Balfour's order book reaches record £6bn

Balfour Beatty has said overall trading and results to date in 2003 are generally in line with expectations and it expects profits to be weighted towards the second half of the year.

At its AGM today (Thursday), Balfour chairman Lord Weir told shareholders that the group's order book now stands at a record level of over £6bn, while its building sector order book was encouraging.

Balfour's order book for UK building construction alone now stands at over £550m, with substantial amounts of additional work likely to be won in the sector over the next few months.

Referring to its different divisions, Weir said bidding activity for UK infrastructure work is at a very high level, although in the US Balfour had continued to incur unbudgeted costs on a small number of projects.

In rail the group had made a good start to the year with the UK and European businesses performing particularly well.

Balfour's half-year results will be announced on 13 August.