Spotlight on CIMIC Group

CIMIC Group (ASX: CIM) is a global engineering-led construction, mining and services business with a history dating back to 1899. This week, CIMIC released their 2019 annual general meeting update, guiding to a strong outlook for the year. The company pointed to a robust order book and expected to achieve net profit after tax in the range of $790 million to $840 million for the 2019 financial year.

We invested in CIMIC due to its strong outlook for east coast construction work and the poor performance of a number of its competitors, which would enable the company to increase market share. CIMIC’s management team has consistently exceeded expectations over the last few years and produced solid cash flow which has contributed to the business having a $1.6 billion net cash position on the balance sheet. We see the opportunity for management to deploy this strong balance sheet into acquisitions or capital management over the near-term.

CIMIC has won a strong number of contracts in the last few months, with the business recently being awarded the tender to construct Queensland's largest infrastructure project – the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail system. We believe the positive momentum for CIMIC will continue and see the potential for the business to upgrade analyst earnings expectations over the year. We hold CIMIC as a market-driven investment in WAM Active and WAM Capital. CIMIC is up 1.8% for the month of April.