Turnover at the firm broke through the £1bn mark again after a strong recovery in major project orders lifted sales 17% to £1.12bn.

Chief executive Andrew Wyllie said the firm was well placed for growth this year with a record order book of £3.5bn compared to £3bn in 2013 and strong net cash reserves of £148.5m following a £70m share issue last March.

Costain is still on the hunt for small bolt-on acquisitions to grow the business, after its failed bid for May Gurney in 2013.

“To be successful in the future we must continue to grow the business, both organically and by targeted acquisition, to ensure that we have the scale and capability to satisfy the full range of their service needs for increasingly complex and large-scale projects,” he said.

Costain’s Infrastructure division delivered increases in revenue, operating profit and order book. But Costain’s Manchester waste PFI awarded in 2007 saw the natural resource division fall into the red, making on overall loss of £3.2m.

Costain’s tender success rate is now better than one in three of all opportunities pursued, a win-rate that has improved significantly as the firm targeted major repeat customers.

Over 70% of the record order book is for contracts or frameworks with a remaining value in excess of £100m.

The average life of a contract in the group has increased considerably in the last few years and is now over four years in duration.

Wyllie added: “We have delivered a strong performance, and successfully completed a capital raising to enable the group to accelerate its growth.

“We are excited by the many opportunities that lie ahead and, with an outstanding team and record order book, we look forward to reporting on further progress in 2015.”