London, Feb 16, 2026, 12:45 GMT — Regular session
- Costain shares up 0.4% in London trade, near 188p
- Focus stays on March 10 full-year results and planned cash returns
- Investors watch for buyback details and cash conversion
Costain Group PLC shares edged higher on Monday, with the UK infrastructure contractor trading up 0.4% at 187.8 pence after closing at 187.0 pence on Friday. (Lse)
The small move matters because investors are now circling one date: March 10, when Costain is due to publish full-year results and, potentially, spell out how it plans to return cash. In a late-January update, the company flagged a possible £20 million share buyback — where a company repurchases its own stock — alongside higher dividends. (Lse)
That same statement leaned heavily on balance-sheet headroom. Costain said it had removed a “dividend parity” arrangement with its defined benefit pension scheme trustee, and said it intended to move to dividend cover of 3.0 times — a measure of earnings relative to the dividend — which it said would almost double dividend cash payments in the 2026 financial year. (Lse)
Chief executive Alex Vaughan said then it had been “another positive year” with “strong cash generation”, and pointed to a “current intention” to run the buyback programme. Investors have treated that wording as a tell: plans can shift fast if cash timing reverses. (Lse)
Costain also has new work to point to. In late January it said it had been awarded a contract worth about £100 million over five years to design and build a new M5 junction in Somerset to provide access to the Gravity Smart Campus and a planned electric-vehicle battery “gigafactory”. (Lse)
What traders are watching next is mostly diary-driven. Alongside the March 10 results, the company’s calendar flags its annual general meeting on May 14 and half-year results on Aug. 13. (Costain)
There is also an investor Q&A session slated for March 11, hosted by Vaughan and finance chief Helen Willis via Investor Meet Company, a day after the results. (Lse)
Costain’s shares have run hard over the past year, leaving less room for sloppy execution on margins and cash. On one widely followed retail platform, the stock is shown up more than 80% over 12 months. (Hargreaves Lansdown)
But the downside case is not subtle. Costain’s January update said net cash was ahead of expectations due to working-capital timing, and flagged revenue effects from rephasing on HS2 and road project completions — the kind of swings that can hit cash conversion and make buybacks harder to justify. (Lse)
The next hard catalyst is March 10: full-year numbers, any guidance for 2026, and whether the board turns “current intention” into a firm buyback timetable. (Costain)
