Recent wins include a £100m five-year highways term maintenance contract for Warwickshire and Coventry councils, including street lighting, with a possible four-year extension conditional to meeting performance targets.
There is also the 25-year Cambridgeshire County Council street lighting PPP project announced last week that has a significant element of support services.
Kevin Craven, CEO of Balfour Beatty Support Services, said: “Balfour Beatty is well-placed in respect of the changing nature of local authority contracts which favour companies that can offer a broad range of capabilities, thereby providing savings as well as improved services for local government.”
In the trading statement, the company also highlighted recent construction orders, including novated Rok contracts and the confirmation of a Crossrail tunnelling contract.
The company said: “Overall, performance has been consistent with the outlook given at the time of the full-year results, and we continue to expect to make progress this year. At the time of the full-year results in March, we highlighted some of the challenges facing our industry, particularly relating to uncertainty in government capital expenditure in the UK and the US. We are pleased to report that in the first four months of the year, our businesses have continued to adapt well to these conditions, and we are encouraged by the progress made so far.
Contract wins during Q1 have advanced the order book from the £15.2bn year-end figure despite an adverse foreign exchange translation impact. The medium and long-term prospects for infrastructure markets in the Group’s geographies remain positive.”
It added: “The financial position of the group remains good with a strong balance sheet to support our growth ambitions. Average net cash for the first quarter remained strong at approximately £340m after the pension deficit payment in December 2010, contributions to PPP investments and bolt-on acquisitions.
“Balfour Beatty is now a global business generating more than £10bn of revenue across 80 countries in a diverse spread of sectors in the global infrastructure market. Our technical expertise is augmented by local knowledge, and the ability to manage and integrate the complex needs of our customers and stakeholders.
“Over the medium and long term, we expect global infrastructure to be an attractive growth market. We have put in place a clear strategy, and the group is well-placed to benefit from the growth in this market based on our depth of infrastructure knowledge, breadth of capability and the strength of our balance sheet.
“While we do not expect, in the short term, a meaningful recovery in the UK and US infrastructure markets, we continue to expect to make progress this year.”
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