The steamroller that is Balfour Beatty looks to have shrugged off the Metronet muddle without suffering much impact to its forward speed: during the first half of 2007 Balfour’s orderbook powered ahead, growing by £1.5bn to a new record total of £10.6bn.
Latest interim results (six months to 30 June) show turnover higher at £3.5bn (comparable figure from last year: £2.7bn).
But there was no escaping the fact that Balfour made a pre-tax loss of £52m after being hit with exceptional items that cost a total of £128m, £122m of which is attributable to Metronet's problems on the London Underground PPP. Without them, Balfour would have made a £76m pre-tax profit, representing a profit margin of 2.2%.
As indicated in its June trading update, Balfour wrote-off its £100m equity invested in Metronet concessions.
Cash flow from operating activities was higher at £180m (comparable figure: £130m).
At the end of the period, Balfour’s cash-in-hand was £480m, an increase of £100m.
Balfour has four operating divisions and their contribution to profit (before exceptional items) was: building and building management - £30m; civil and specialist engineering - £26m; rail - £13m; investments and developments - £17m.
Operations in North America expanded to a turnover of £560m, although there was an overall loss of £4m from these operations.
Ian Tyler, chief executive, said: “It is pleasing to report a first half-year of strong profit growth, coupled with a strengthening of our cash position and growth in our orderbook.
“With workloads continuing to increase, projects progressing well and a full six months contribution from Balfour Beatty Construction US, we anticipate further good progress in the second half of the year.”