There is nothing like the whiff of a dividend to set investors’ adrenaline pumping, even from, well, a mixed set of results. That is what the builder Costain delivered on Wednesday, and the package has been well received since. The shares jumped from 46½p on Tuesday — ahead of the official announcement — to nearly 53p at one stage yesterday. They are coming out of intensive care, where they have lain since the pandemic, so it may be time to examine the company anew.
The group was once heavily into housebuilding but, as results elsewhere have shown recently, exiting that was probably a smart move. However, it has instead chosen to deal with the often less predictable vagaries of Whitehall. It plunged into losses in
