Carillion's orderbook stands at a healthy £4.5bn

Carillion's trading update this morning (Thursday) showed a confirmed orderbook of £4.5bn.

The transfer of rail maintenance activities to Network Rail is progressing smoothly and remains on course for completion on 24 July, in accordance with the agreement reached with Network Rail on 1 June.

Progress in the first half of the year includes the £17m sale of Crown House, Carillion's former M&E subsidiary, to Laing O'Rourke, and several PFI/PPP equity sales - following these disposals, the value of Carillion's remaining PPP equity portfolio stands at £80m.

Checks on Carillion's existing PFI/PPP contracts, so that future anticipated income streams are "bombproof", involve putting each of them under the microscope every three months, reviews covering a period stretching ahead for several years.

Chris Girling, finance director, said: "We dig into them and the key issue is to see what we are paying people relative to the inflation index. If we are paying more or less than that figure, that's into our risk territory."

Stripping the PFI element out of the future £4.5bn orderbook leaves a figure of £3bn which divides fairly equally into Carillion's five business divisions: building, international, health, services and roads.