John Laing down as renewables suffer in the first six months

FTSE 250 infrastructure company John Laing Group (LON:JLG) has seen its share price drop by 6.20% to 357.20p (as of 14:10 BST) following the publication of a mixed set of results for the six months to 30th June. NAV rose by 0.6% for the period despite difficulties with its renewable energy portfolios in Europe and Australia.

CEO Olivier Brousse commented: “Our operational performance in the first half was strong, however we have had a number of challenges with our renewable energy assets in Australia and Europe. We delivered value enhancements across the portfolio, but predominantly in renewable energy, which has helped to mitigate the impact of these challenges. In addition, we made good progress on key assets in our PPP portfolio. The Denver Eagle P3 commuter rail project fully opened to the public in April, IEP Phase 2 commenced public train services in May and Sydney Light Rail and New Generation Rollingstock also progressed well in the last six months. Our asset management teams have been instrumental in successfully progressing all of these projects, protecting and enhancing the value of our investments.

We are confident in our ability to continue to generate value from our existing portfolio, to make the most of a secondary market that remains strong and capitalise on the demand for operational infrastructure. At the same time, our investment teams are actively seeking new PPP investments, supported by our strong financial resources and partner relationships. We are particularly pleased in this regard to have agreed in July our first investment in Latin America, with the Ruta del Cacao PPP road project in Colombia. New renewable energy investments have been put on hold in Europe and Australia, and limited to recycling of capital in North America, as we re-assess our approach to risk and return in these markets. Nevertheless, our pipeline remains healthy across our established geographies and in new markets and sectors.

We remain confident in delivering our full year expectations, underpinned by the value inherent in our existing portfolio and further penetration of our targeted markets“.