Cyril Sweett

In spite of wider economic worries, global construction and property consultancy Cyril Sweett, a recent GCI recommendation at 52.5p, has reassured investors with an upbeat trading update for the half to September.

CEO Dean Webster said Cyril Sweett, whose services range from cost consultancy to building surveying and project management, traded in line with expectations during a first half in which four acquisitions completed since IPO in October 2007 were successfully integrated.

UK trading progressed to plan, in spite of the reduced demand for the group’s services from the under-fire commercial and retail sectors, with demand remaining strong in public sector areas such as health, transport, education, waste and prisons. Significantly, the overseas business, which encompasses everywhere from Australia, India and Singapore to the buoyant UAE, traded ‘well ahead’ of last year and management remains upbeat about international growth opportunities.

Webster was also keen to flag up the fact that the group continues to de-risk its PPP (public private partnership) and PFI (private finance initiative) investments, whilst Cyril Sweett is close to securing ‘two more major PPP projects’.

Set to unveil interim figures in early December, analysts see Cyril Sweett growing annual profits to March 2009 from £5.86m to £8.5m, with earnings increasing from 8.3p to 9.7p per share. Trading on a prospective price-to-earnings ratio of 6.4 and offering a yield of more than 4% – based on a forecast dividend of 2.6p – we still consider the shares very good value.

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