HICL annual profit jumps on strong performance

21st May 2015 09:46

Investment group HICL Infrastructure Company reported a sharp increase in annual pre-tax profit, on the back of a strong performance across its portfolio.The FTSE 250 group said its pre-tax profit for the 12 months to end March jumped 50.2% year-on-year to £231m, while profit to equity shareholders of the parent surged 50.2% to £230.8m.Earnings per share rose 42% to 18.6p, while total income jumped 43.5% to £243m, driven by an increase in valuations due to strong market demand and better-than-expected portfolio performances.HICL made nine new investments and 10 incremental acquisitions in the year, investing £113.1m net of disposal proceeds, adding it was confident to target a total dividend of 7.45p per share for the year to 31 March 2016, in excess of prior guidance of 7.40p.HICL shares were down 0.26% to 155.10p at 10:10 on Thursday.