Balfour Beatty set to delay £200m share buyback due to coronavirus
Construction giant Balfour Beatty has delayed its planned £200m-plus share buyback due to coronavirus-related stock market turmoil.
The group were reportedly going to announce the buyback tomorrow alongside the release of its annual results, according to Sky News.
However, a source has told Sky that Balfour – who are one of the main contractors for the HS2 project – has put off its plans, after the London Stock Exchange suffered a series of blows over the past two weeks.
Yesterday, fears about the virus, and a plunging oil price, sent the FTSE 100 benchmark index down by 7.7 per cent – its largest single day fall since the 2008 financial crisis.
Balfour in particular has had a rough time as its stock price has dropped by 20.58 per cent in the past month alone.
Its price on the London Stock Exchange was 220.80p at the bell today.
The construction company will now wait until stability returns to the market to pursue its share buyback.
The company was recently boosted by Boris Johnson’s confirmation in February that the £106bn HS2 project would go ahead.
The news had consolidated a strong series of results for Balfour, which saw its pre-tax profit grow by 26 per cent in the first half of 2019, and sent its stock price surging upward.