Order book increases to £6bn as support services firm reports 'little overall effect' from credit crunch

Support services and building hybrid Interserve has reported a 20% rise in pre-tax profit from £28.2m to £33.7m in the six months to 30 June 2008.

Turnover grew 6% from £861m to £914m over the same period, with the group singling out the Middle East market as the strongest performer.

The region now accounts for 30% of group profits.

Chief executive Adrian Ringrose said: “With our strong position in the Middle East and the continued opportunities for growth in our core UK sectors, we are confident that Interserve is well-placed to maintain its progress.”

In the UK, it said it had experienced “little overall effect” from the credit crunch. It said: “We have relatively limited exposure to the sub-sectors of the commercial building market in which we anticipate some further softening of demand.

“We remain confident that any impact will be significantly outweighed to growth markets in UK outsourcing and social infrastructure and to burgeoning international opportunities.”

The order book has increased from £5.7bn at the end of 2007 to £6.1bn in June 2008.

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