(Sharecast News) - Severfield said it was trading well and that results for the year to the end of March would easily beat its expectations.
The structural steel company said it was winning high-quality work and that its £315m order book in the UK and Europe would support trading in 2022 and beyond. Severfield said the level of tendering and pipeline activity in the UK and Europe was very encouraging though at more competitive prices in sectors such as industrial and distribution and sports stadiums.

Severfield's Indian joint venture had a difficult first half but has broadly broken even in the second half. The order book was £104m on 1 April compared with £98m on 1 November. Potential orders include projects for clients with strong relationships, leaving the business in a good position to win more work "albeit we remain mindful of the evolving Covid-19 backdrop in India," Severfield said.

The company said: "The group is currently performing well and based on the good progress made in the second half of the 2021 financial year, we now expect to deliver a full year result which is comfortably above management's previous expectations."

Shares of Severfield rose 7.5% to 81.49p at 10:31 BST.

Severfield said cash generation in the second half was good and that it had a strong net financial position with about £4m of net funds at the end of the year. The company said it had signed up to the SteelZero initiative to speed up the steel industry's shift to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 with interim targets in 2030.