Balfour Beatty total revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were up 5% to £11.0bn (2010: £10.5bn).
Underlying pre-tax profit from continuing operations was up 9% to £334m (2010: £306m). Reported pre-tax profit from continuing operations was up 22% to £246m (2010: £201m).
While UK revenues are not reported separately, the company did disclose that its UK order book had declined during the year, as it had in the USA too. However, wins in the rest of the world, primarily in South Africa and Qatar, more than made up for this, growing worldwide group orders up from £1.5bn to £1.6bn.
The company said that it had implemented “a rigorous cost saving programme” in the UK and shifted its focus to more complex projects, particularly in the power, rail and commercial sectors.
Balfour Beatty also
The company also sees continuing opportunity in parts of the public sector, such as the new PFI priority schools programme and local authority outsourcing.
Chief executive Ian Tyler said: "We delivered a strong performance in 2011, made further progress towards the delivery of our strategy and demonstrated the diversity, flexibility and resilience of our business. We are excited by the opportunities in growth sectors such as rail and power and growth markets like Australia, Canada and India.
"Our ongoing programmes to achieve cost efficiency and to recycle capital in our investments business were successful in 2011, and we plan to accelerate them. We have confidence that these programmes will underpin performance. This should ensure that we make progress in 2012."
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
