Galliford Try to receive £26m payout after settling dispute with infrastructure fund

Galliford Try has announced it will receive a £26m payout after settling a long-standing dispute with an unnamed major infrastructure fund.

The firm said it will return a “substantial” proportion of the proceeds to shareholders while retaining some to invest in its growth strategy.

In a post on the London Stock Exchange, the company said the settlement brings to a conclusion a “complex and challenging” dispute concerning three contracts with entities owned by the unnamed infrastructure fund.

It also expects to report a one-off non-cash write-off of around £3m in the current financial year.

The board has declared a special dividend of 12 pence per share, which will be paid on 27 October 2023 to shareholders on the register as at 6 October 2023, the firm’s general counsel and company secretary Kevin Corbett said on behalf of the firm.

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“Given the group’s strong balance sheet, and consistent with its established capital allocation objectives, the group intends to return to shareholders a substantial proportion of the proceeds over time while retaining an element of the proceeds to invest in its growth strategy,” the firm said.

Galliford Try’s share value was up 4.31% at 193.4p as of 10.58 this morning.

The firm sold its housebuilding arm, Linden Homes, to the then Bovis Homes for £1.1bn in 2020. This came after the firm became embroiled in two problem jobs inScotland, the Aberdeen bypass and Queensferry crossing.