Balfour reports steady growth and a strong order book

Contractor Balfour Beatty has reported a steady performance over the past six months in the UK and US with average net cash of £260m, despite a dip in its rail business in the UK.

In an interim management statement, covering 28 June to 10 November 2009, the group announced today that its performance is in line with expectations and that is has a “strong order book and good prospects of further work”.

In the UK, the group said it had performed well, highlighting the completed £380m acquisition of Parsons Brinckerhoff and citing key wins over the last six months:

“In infrastructure investments, we reached financial close for the £176m Carlisle Northern Development Route PPP concession contract in July and were appointed preferred bidder by Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton councils for their £450m PPP Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in October. We are currently bidding for a number of UK PPP projects including BSF schemes in Ealing, Derby, Hertfordshire and Oldham.”

But it added that the rail buisineses, particularly in the UK and Germany, had been affected by reduced volumes and a slow start to the year.

The group's US arm has continued its strong performance from the first half. The statement reported recent contract wins in Texas, Georgia and the Carolinas totalling $400m.

The group said it was confident that the remainder of 2009 would remain steady: “At the end of September 2009, the order book was in line with that reported at the half-year and coverage for next year is at a similar level compared with this time last year. With the addition of Parsons Brinckerhoff's order book of US$1.95bn (£1.2bn), the confirmed order book total for the group is therefore now around £13.7bn.”