Revenue increased by 10% to £322m driven by the acquisition of process automation specialist Capula in May 2012 and high production levels on jobs in Kazakhstan.

As a result operating margins slipped back from 5.5% in the first half of 2012 to 3.9% this year.

Staff levels rose to handle increased turnover from around 3,500 last year to 3,800 at the end of June, despite widespread staff cuts across the group’s operations in the rest of Europe.

Imtech said businesses in water, waste and energy, systems integration had allowed it to offset weaker demand from engineering contracting.

It added that the order intake of £291m was lower than the revenue due to high production levels and weak market conditions for mainstream contracting work.

The UK business recently won the mechanical and electrical services for redeveloping the Olympic stadium and surrounding podium areas in London worth around £17m.

The troubled parent group  posted a near £200m loss in the first half from the fallout of problems in Poland and Germany. Turnover dipped slightly to £2.13bn, with the European group’s net interest bearing debt at just over £1bn.

Gerard van de Aast, Imech CEO, said: ‘The net result in the first half of 2013 at Imtech is largely driven by several one-off items and financial expenses as previously announced.

“Revenue is slightly down and working capital is beginning to decline in the second quarter.

“The order intake is satisfactory, given market circumstances, and in line with revenue. Good new orders are won amongst others at Shell in the Netherlands, Carl Zeiss in Germany, Merseytravel in the UK and Marine orders in China.

“We are well on track with the implementation of the strengthened business controls and the restructuring programs are on schedule and will be finalised in the second half of this year. However, this is just the beginning of the necessary change and business improvements at Imtech.”