Balfour Beatty's order book hits £8.5bn

Balfour Beatty's order book has grown to £8.5bn in the first half of 2006.

In a trading statement issued this morning, the group said its performance in the first half was "good", while cash generation was "strong".

Highlights of the first half included the completion of the acquisition of US construction management business Charter and Edgar Allen, the UK rail products manufacturer, plus the launch of the £32m bid for Birse.

One sour note in the statement concerned the Metronet PPP concessions, which made satisfactory progress despite "delays to the station upgrade programme and some challenging issues".

Balfour's results for the six months to 30 June will be announced on 16 August.