Interim results for the UK-based civil engineering and services group Balfour Beatty have been boosted by disposal of cable operations and strong business in engineering services.
The Group made pre-tax, "pre-exceptionals" profit of £35M ($52.7M) for the half-year to July 1st compared with £16M for 1999. Of this £12M ($18.1M) was from the disposals in the cable industry, which had been a loss-maker in the previous period and reflect the recent name change from BICC to Balfour Beatty. The Group is said to have a strong operating cash flow and record order book, which is set to increase further. Turnover increased slightly to £1178M.
Tunnelling is grouped within the civil and specialist engineering and services sector for which operating profits have improved to £10M ($15.1M), and featured particular improvements in US engineering activities. Here Balfour Beatty recently acquired two rail track work specialists and a building security company.
Within the investments and development business group, Balfour Beatty has secured a concession to waste water operations in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Chairman Viscount Weir commented on positive short-term trading conditions but said: "There remains a shortage of major project work in the UK pending the delivery of planned investment programmes." He continued: "In this [civil and specialist engineering & services] sector, our aim is to selectively exploit our proven capability for complex project management and execution, and our engineering and service specialisations. Progress continued in North America, where our civil engineering business, which is now among the top 10 companies in its field in the US, improved profits. We expect to benefit from the positive impetus created by the Transport Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21). The market for major infrastructure projects in the UK remains weak.
Another underground point of note has been the shortlisting of Metronet, a consortium of which Balfour Beatty is a member, for one of the deep-line concessions in London Underground‘s public-private partnership, and it has also prequalified for the sub-surface lines contract.
