Carillion perform well at half year

The construction group Carillion has posted a 13% jump in turnover from £2.4billion to £2.7billion in the first half of 2009.Pre-tax profit climbed 92% from £27million to £52million and the company cut its debt from £264million to £146million.

Philip Rogerson, Chairman, commented:“Carillion continued to perform strongly in the first half of 2009. A high quality order book, a resilient business mix, strong positions in our chosen market sectors and a robust balance sheet continue to underpin our expectation that, despite challenging market conditions, Carillion will deliver materially enhanced earnings in 2009.'

Operational highlights included an Alfred McAlpine integration cost savings coming through as planned ,increasing from £15 million in 2008 to £35 million in 2009 and to £50 million per annum in 2010.

Support services continues to be a key driver of earnings growth ,margins improving in line with expectations and benefiting from Alfred McAlpine integration cost savings. Equity investments in Public Private Partnership projects continue to generate substantial value, the sale of two investments in June 2009 generated proceeds of £13.8 million

In the Middle East construction services performed strongly on track to increase revenue from £464million in 2008 to around £600million by the end of 2009

The order book stands at some £19.7 billion at 30 June 2009 (31 December 2008: £20.4 billion), plus probable new orders worth approximately £2.9 billion (31 December 2008: £3.1 billion).