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Employees: 3,291
Size Costain (COST.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Engineering & Construction) with a market value of $890M, the 228th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £253.50 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 30.0%, against -8.2% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 5th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 6.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +5.8%); the operating margin is 4.6% (peer median 5.5%).
Valuation It trades at 16.5× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.5× (8th most expensive of 16).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 0% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +1%, so the hurdle is -1 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 30.6 points above its cost of capital (11.3% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 16 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £1.06B | £1.05B | £1.25B | £1.33B | £1.42B |
| Revenue growth | — | -16% | -6% | -6% | — |
| Gross profit | £114M | £113M | £103M | £104M | £92.1M |
| EBITDA | £63.3M | £61.0M | £48.7M | £50.9M | £56.8M |
| Net income | £38.0M | £37.3M | £30.6M | £22.1M | £25.9M |
| Free cash flow | £73.8M | £49.9M | £37.2M | £69.8M | £13.9M |
| Capital expenditure | £2.90M | £2.80M | £9.10M | £100,000 | £500,000 |
| Total debt | n/a | £25.0M | £25.8M | £24.3M | £29.5M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | COST.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +5.4% | -7.7% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +30.0% | -8.2% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.2% | -33.9% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -6.5% | +5.8% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 4.6% | 5.5% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 16.5× | 14.5× | 8th most expensive of 16 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 0.1% | 6.0% | 5th least demanding of 9 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +1.3% | +5.4% | 2nd lowest of 9 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -1.2 pp | -2.1 pp | 5th least demanding of 9 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +30.6 pp | -3.0 pp | 2nd highest of 18 |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.8× | 10.2× | 5th cheapest of 10 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -2.7× | -0.7× | 3rd least indebted of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costain COST.L | United Kingdom | $890M | +30% | -6% | 5% | 16.5× | 0.1% | +1.3% |
| GR Engineering Services GNG.AX | Australia | $891M | +40% | +3% | 11% | 18.3× | 14.9% | +4.7% |
| Ningbo Construction 601789.SS | China | $885M | -34% | +10% | 2% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shenzhen Tagen 000090.SZ | China | $883M | -11% | +1% | 0% | 7.7× | 13.8% | +5.6% |
| Taihei Dengyo Kaisha 1968.T | Japan | $899M | -22% | +19% | 11% | 11.2× | n/a | n/a |
| I.CO.P ICOP.MI | Italy | $901M | -6% | +138% | 11% | 17.1× | n/a | n/a |
| GRK Infra GRK.HE | Finland | $903M | +30% | -7% | 8% | 10.0× | -1.5% | +24.6% |
| Shanghai Geoharbour Construction 605598.SS | China | $913M | -48% | +9% | -3% | 541.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Urban Architecture Design 300983.SZ | China | $866M | +5% | -7% | -58% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Hubei Chutian Smart Communication 600035.SS | China | $918M | -1% | +34% | 9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Next Geosolutions Europe NXT.MI | Italy | $861M | +22% | +68% | 17% | 12.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Beijing New Space Technology 605178.SS | China | $861M | -18% | 0% | -51% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Xinjiang Beixin Road & Bridge 002307.SZ | China | $861M | -19% | -22% | 8% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| LS Marine Solution 060370.KS | South Korea | $924M | -35% | +21% | 6% | 55.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Sentia SNTIA.OL | Norway | $924M | +8% | +15% | 5% | 14.3× | -11.1% | +4.2% |
| Galliford Try GFRD.L | United Kingdom | $925M | +31% | +3% | 3% | 14.5× | -0.8% | +11.4% |
| Raito Kogyo 1926.T | Japan | $928M | -5% | +9% | 13% | 11.6× | -8.0% | +5.2% |
| China Nerin Engineering 603257.SS | China | $851M | -21% | -21% | 10% | 23.4× | 15.4% | +5.6% |
| YIT YIT.HE | Finland | $938M | +45% | +10% | 3% | 75.2× | 12.8% | -10.6% |
| KEC International KEC.NS | India | $939M | -46% | -2% | 5% | 13.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Afcons Infrastructure AFCONS.NS | India | $841M | -36% | -15% | 4% | 25.2× | n/a | n/a |