The Group is benefiting from "careful management of overheads and improved utilisation rates."
Companies: Driver Group Plc
Driver Group (LON: DRV) has released a brief trading update this morning that has sent shares in the Group up over 20%.
The construction consultancy firm said that they expect to report underlying PBT "ahead of its previous expectations", thanks to "careful management of overheads and improved utilisation rates during the second half of the financial year."
Performance has been especially strong in markets such as the UAE, Qatar, Singapore, and in particular, the UK.
The Group also recently disposed of its South African subsidiary.
Net debt for the group at the financial year-end is expected to be in the region of £1m, down from the reported £3.5m in FY 16.
Singers upgraded their forecasts as outlined in their note this morning:
'We upgrade FY17 PBT by 15% with an 8% upgrade rolling through for FY18. We see continuing scope for outperformance and expect today’s update to be well received, bringing confirmation that the turnaround of the Group continues post the fundraising earlier this year. In our view the shares are attractively valued on an FY18 EV/EBITDA rating of c.7x."
Prelims for the Full Year to 30 September will be announced in December.
With a market cap of c. £28m, DRV trades at a PE ratio of 13x versus the industry median of 14x.
Revenue charts show steady growth in the five years to 2016, whilst Net Profits have fluctuated significantly.