Carillion's orderbook doubles to over £14bn

Carillion’s orderbook stands at over £14bn, more than double the £7bn figure at the start of the year, as a result of the Mowlem acquisition in February and a string of new orders.

In addition, Carillion has a substantial pipeline of probable new orders worth a further £1.9bn.

Announcing Carillion’s latest interim results (six months to 30 June) this morning, the group unveiled a pre-tax profit of £12m from a turnover of £1.7bn.

The profit figure would have been double, at £24m, but it was trimmed back by a string of small exceptional charges, mostly relating to the cost of acquiring Mowlem, and then integrating the new business.

Philip Rogerson, chairman, said: “Integration has gone well. Overall trading has remained positive.”

Net debt at 30 June ran to £120m. The average debt in 2006 is now expected to be below £150m, substantially less than the £200m figure anticipated at the time of acquiring Mowlem.

Chris Girling, Carillion’s finance director has announced that he is to retire.

Carillion’s PFI portfolio at 30 June ran to 31 financially closed projects in which it had invested, or made commitments to invest, £170m of equity.

Eight equity investments are to be sold in a move that will generate £46m of cash, representing an exceptional profit of £22m.

On this basis, the value of Carillion’s remaining equity stakes runs to £220m – well ahead of the £90m valuation calculated at the start of the year.