Strong cash flows across the business helped replenish Balfour’s cash pile to over £400m – the level it enjoyed before buying Parsons Brinckerhoff last year.

The firm also raised £24m from the sale of the Aberdeen waste water concession.

In the UK, Balfour said orders were holding up well and its regional contracting businesses were trading in line with expectations.

In an upbeat trading statement, Balfour said it was now focused on building up private sector workloads.

So far this year, the country’s biggest contractor has landed £700m of water work under AMP5 and has secured £250m worth of local authority outsourcing work.

In professional services, Balfour said that there will be a first full-year contribution in 2010 from Parsons Brinckerhoff, which is performing well and in line with its expectations.

In the US, the PB business is now managing high speed rail projects accounting for half of the country’s $8bn rail recovery plan. Balfour said its consultancy side has also grown strongly in Australian and Asia.

But the US contracting business is fairing less well with activity down on last year.