The announcement was in stark contrast to rival Balfour Beatty’s revelations yesterday which wiped nearly £400m off the firm’s Stock Market valuation.

Costain reported a strong start to the year as it continued to secure new work from major blue-chip infrastructure customers.

The firm said: “Costain’s major customers continue to consolidate their supply chains as they seek to work in a more strategic and collaborative manner with a reduced number of tier one engineering solutions providers.”

Contracts secured since the start of the year included:

–     Appointed to the Network Rail £2 billion National Electrification Programme, with the contract worth an initial £900m over seven years to the Group’s joint venture.

–     Another Crossrail deal worth an initial £150m to Costain to deliver the infrastructure and stations between Stratford and Shenfield.

–     Appointed by National Grid to three frameworks as part of their overall investment plans to 2021.

The new contracts helped boost Costain’s forward order book to a new record level of £3.2bn (31 December 2013: £3.0bn), of which over 90% is from repeat orders.

The firm added: “Costain is well positioned in a developing market of a limited number of providers who can deliver the innovative integrated consulting, project delivery and operations and maintenance services increasingly demanded by major customers.

“With increased financial resources, a record order book and a strong pipeline of opportunities, the Board remains confident of meeting its expectations in 2014.”