Contractor Carillion has disposed of its stake in the Darent Valley hospital in Kent for more than four times its original investment.
The firm has sold its equity in the project, the first PFI hospital in the UK, to Barclays, its consortium partner, for 拢16.4m.

One-third of the firm's 拢11m profit will be returned to shareholders in the form of a 1.7p dividend. In a statement to the stock exchange, Carillion said it would make a similar payment to shareholders when it disposed of other PFI projects.

John McDonough, Carillion's chief executive, said: "This sale meets all the objectives we set ourselves when we announced our intention to recycle our PPP equity investments."

Consultant Atkins has sold its stakes in two PFI road projects, albeit for a less spectacular return.

This sale meets all the objectives we set ourselves

John McDonough, Carillion

The consultant has sold its stakes in the Connect Roads and the Connect M77/GSO scheme to Balfour Beatty. It is believed to have made a return on its investment of between 12% and 15%. Some of the cash will be used to reduce the company's debt.

Mike Jeffries, Atkins' chairman, said the company had long planned to sell its equity, but that the process of completing the transactions had taken longer than he had anticipated.