Balfour's orderbook hits record tally of £10.6bn

The steamroller that is Balfour Beatty shrugged off its 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 (£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 £128m in all, £122m of these related to Metronet. Without them, Balfour would have made a £76m pre-tax profit, representing a profit margin of 2.2%.

Cashflow from operating activities was higher at £180m (£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.

Chief executive Ian Tyler 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."

Asked about the acquisition of Birse, he said: "It's been excellent for us. Birse is strong in regional civils and made a profit." The Birse name stays on.

Tyler played down the size of Balfour's cash pot, saying that £480m is not the average cash for the year. Even so, the amount available for future acquisitions runs to "a few hundred million", he conceded.

Balfour has little enthusiasm for either half of the soon-to-be-split-in-two Alfred McAlpine group because not many of its parts fit Balfour's needs.

The four areas where Tyler would most like to see growth by acquisition are: regional civils in the UK infrastructure to invest in professional services and growth outside the UK.