Balfour Beatty posts 24% rise in pre-tax profit

Balfour Beatty has announced a 24% pre-tax profit increase for 2008, up from £201m to £249m. Group revenue was up 28% for the year, rising from £6,466m to £8,261m.

Chief executive Steve Marshall said that he expected the global financial storm to have only a limited impact on business in 2009.

The firm said: “Balfour Beatty produced another excellent financial performance in 2008, together with further progress in the group's strategic development.

“While the difficult economic environment will have some impact on our businesses and creates greater uncertainty, we anticipate making progress in 2009.”

The UK firm was boosted by the Olympics and major projects from BAA and BT. In America, major clients included the US navy, army and air force.

Balfour's building sector order book was £12.8bn at the end of 2008, compared with £11.4bn at the same point in 2007.

The profit gains were shaded only by Carillion's results yesterday, which showed a 55% leap in full-year results due to growth in public and Middle Eastern work.

Balfour Beatty said it had made further progress in the strategic development of the group last year.

It added: “We are strong both operationally and financially and the majority of our work is with public sector and regulated customers, who are long-term investors in infrastructure.

“While the difficult economic environment will have some impact on our businesses and creates greater uncertainty, we anticipate making progress in 2009.”