Balfour Beatty Plc (BAFBF) Q2 2023 Earnings Call

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WEBVTT 00:00:00.031 -- 00:00:03.679 Good morning, everybody. Judging by the size of the audience, it looks as if you all 00:00:03.679 -- 00:00:05.963 delayed your summer holiday just to see these results. 00:00:05.963 -- 00:00:07.366 So 00:00:07.366 -- 00:00:11.876 I'm Leo Quinn, Balfe's chief executive. I'm joined by Phil Harrison, chief financial 00:00:11.876 -- 00:00:17.142 officer. And we're going to give you an update on the half-year performance. 00:00:17.142 -- 00:00:22.288 First and foremost, strong first half. And the progress 00:00:22.288 -- 00:00:25.352 that's been made is in the areas that you'd like to see it made. 00:00:25.352 -- 00:00:31.139 Earnings are up some 12% overall. But if you dig below, you'll see the U.K. 00:00:31.139 -- 00:00:34.924 earnings business is up some 60%. Hong Kong's up 40%. 00:00:34.924 -- 00:00:39.990 So very encouraging. Cash continues to be strong at just around $700 00:00:39.990 -- 00:00:44.907 million. If you actually add back the share buyback, which is just under 100 billion, 00:00:44.907 -- 00:00:50.808 it's almost flat with last year. So, again, a strong, encouraging first half. 00:00:50.808 -- 00:00:54.132 The most important thing about the business at the moment is just where we're positioned 00:00:54.132 -- 00:01:01.059 for future growth. And to my mind, it's never really been as encouraging or optimistic. 00:01:01.462 -- 00:01:06.468 Our growth is driven by things like sustainability, net zero carbon and 00:01:06.468 -- 00:01:10.994 the likes of that. And it doesn't matter whether you look at the demand side or supply 00:01:10.994 -- 00:01:15.581 side. We're very, very well positioned. What I mean by that, if you think about the supply 00:01:15.581 -- 00:01:20.930 side, whether it's offshore wind farms, whether it's...