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FTSE 250 infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) has reported a pre-tax profit of £50 million for the first half of 2018, a 150% improvement over the same period of last year. However, revenues for the six months ended 29th June were down by 8.6% at £3.83 billion as a result of last year’s reduced order book.
The forward order book has been rebuilt during the first half and management said that the company is on track to achieve industry standard margins on revenues in line with the first half over the remainder of 2018, but that margins will improve in 2019.
Group Chief Executive Leo Quinn commented: “The disciplines installed under Build to Last are […] enabling us to increase the order book with key infrastructure projects to translate Balfour Beatty’s expert capabilities into future profitable growth.
“Given the strength of our balance sheet and the Board’s confidence that the Group’s full year earnings will meet expectations, we are raising the interim dividend by 33% and plan to repay the outstanding convertible bonds this year.”
Shares in the company climbed by 2.07% to 296.30p (as of 12:20 BST).