The value contained within infrastructure group NTR has risen by nearly €125 million over the past six months, according to a new analysis from Davy Stockbrokers, reports Una McCaffery

Davy analyst Flor O'Donoghue believes NTR can now be valued at €540 million, based on a sum-of-the-parts calculation.

This compares to the €415.9 million valuation Mr O'Donoghue gave the firm when he last looked at its accounts in October last year.

He said the uplift in the valuation was drawn from across its businesses, which run from toll roads to wind farms.

The new valuation would equate to a share price of €22.50.

This compares to €17.33 six months ago, and would mean that NTR is currently trading above its sum-of-the-parts valuation.

The increase in the Davy valuation is sure to be of interest to Philip Lynch, chief executive of the IAWS co-op, which has built up a 26 per cent holding in NTR.

The co-op paid an average of about €20.80 for its shares at the start of this year, or roughly €1.70 beneath the Davy valuation.

NTR was trading at levels around €25 after releasing results on Monday. It was trading at €23 yesterday.

Mr O'Donoghue has revised his 2005 profit forecast for NTR down slightly to reflect factors such as start-up losses within the company's businesses, delayed asset sales at Airtricity and cost increases in tolling.

"The areas in which NTR is active tend to be highly regulated and requirements such as obtaining planning approval are crucial. The net result is that forecasting NTR's earnings for a given year is difficult at present," Mr O'Donoghue noted.