Johns Lyng Group Ltd (ASX: JLG) is the best-performing ASX 200 share on the market so far today.
This follows the release of the integrated building services company's 1H FY23 results this morning.
The Johns Lyng share price opened at $6.01, up 7.3% on yesterday's close. It ascended to an intraday high of $6.51 about an hour after the market open. It is now trading at $6.48, up 15.7% for the day.
By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is down 0.6% today.
The company's results included an 11% upgrade to forecast revenue and a 5.5% upgrade to forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the full-year FY23.
The company now expects $1.146 billion in revenue and $111.1 million in EBITDA for FY23.
Why are Johns Lyng shares leading the ASX 200 today?
Here is what the company reported for the six months ending 31 December 2022:
- Sales revenue of $635.6 million, up 71% on the prior corresponding period of 1H FY22 (pcp)
- EBITDA of $59.4 million, up 63% pcp
- Net profit after tax (NPAT) of $34.1 million, up 84% pcp
- Earnings per share (EPS) of 9.68 cents, up 88% pcp
- Fully franked interim dividend of 4.5 cents per share, up 67% pcp
Johns Lyng will pay its interim dividend to shareholders on 14 March.
What else happened in FY22?
Johns Lyng said "a record volume of business as usual (BaU) and catastrophe (CAT) work" drove its strong earnings growth and forecast upgrades.
In its statement, the company said:
The depth of our relationships with our insurance counterparties and the growth in our Strata network underpins the future growth prospects of the IB&RS [insurance building and restoration services] division.
The results are even more impressive when you consider they exclude commercial construction, which the company has chosen to scale back so it can focus on large insurance building projects.
Johns Lyng's acquisition of United States company Reconstruction Experts in January 2022 bore its first fruit during the half, contributing to the company's boosted CAT revenues.
Reconstruction Experts focuses on insurance-related repairs to residential, commercial, and industrial properties. During the half, it helped residents affected by Hurricane Ian.
Johns Lyng ascended from the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) to the ASX 200 during the half.
The company now has a market capitalisation of $1.46 billion.
What did management say?
Group CEO Scott Didier AM said:
These results demonstrate the robustness of our business model and give us the confidence to
upgrade forecast Group Sales Revenue to $1.146 billion and EBITDA to $111.1 million.We are seeing a continuing and growing trend in our CAT business whereby the value and
duration of these events continue to increase and have a multi-period and indeed multi-year impact
on our business.Although the financial contribution from CAT events is pleasing and growing, the bedrock of JLG's
earnings is our IB&RS BaU work.These earnings have an annuity style profile, and we see significant further growth as we build out our footprint and leverage our service offerings — particularly in our expanding Strata business.
Recent history of this ASX 200 share
The Johns Lyng share price is up 9.6% in the year to date compared to a 5.3% bump for the ASX 200.
Over the past 12 months, this ASX 200 share has fallen 14.5% compared to a rise of 1.1% for the index.
