Gamble of the week: undervalued engineer

The majority of UK civil engineers are in the doldrums – despite huge order books and solid balance sheets. But this quality company is valued far too low far, says Paul Hill.

The majority of UK civil engineers, such as Balfour Beatty, Carillion and Costain, are in the doldrums despite huge order books and solid balance sheets. This reflects investor concerns about what will happen to infrastructure spending after the next general election.

It is certainly likely to be cut, but I don't think we'll see the Armageddon-type scenarios that are currently factored into some lowly share prices. After all, many planned investments in areas such as nuclear power, the 2012 Olympics, building for schools, water treatment plants and high-speed rail links, are key components of Britain's long-term future.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.