Election hits Carillion orders

General election uncertainty over the first half of 2015 led to a large drop in new orders for contractor Carillion, the firm has said today in otherwise solid half-year results.

Over the six months to June Carillion amassed new and probable orders worth £1bn, well down on £3.2bn for the same period in 2014, which the firm attributed to an “expected pause in public sector contract awards due to the UK general election”.

However, the firm grew a fifth over the period, with revenue up 21% to £2.3bn, up from £1.9bn the previous year. Pre-tax profit was unchanged at £67.5m.

Underlying pre-tax profit – which strips out exceptional costs – rose 11% to £84.5m, up from £75.9m.

Carillion said it was pleased that its underlying profitability over the period “grew strongly despite substantial costs of mobilising new contracts”, given what it described as an “exceptional volume” of new contracts won in 2014.

The firm’s order book incorporating probable orders dropped to £17.1bn at 30 June 2015, down from £18.6bn at the end of 2014.

Carillion chairman Philip Green said: “With a strong order book, a growing pipeline of contract opportunities and the prospect of market conditions continuing to improve, our expectations for 2015 and the medium term remain unchanged.”