WSP has evacuated virtually all of its staff from Libya since the outbreak of civil war.

The consultant confirmed in an interim management statement to the City today that it is owed £5m following the move.

WSP said: “The Group has a number of contracts in Libya where it has worked for many years.

“As a result of recent events in that country, we have now exited almost all our staff and, for the moment, stopped work on these contracts.

“There is currently an asset exposure of around £5m to Libya, largely through trade debtors and unbilled amounts due on contracts, which is being actively pursued.”

The company continues to suffer in the UK from the slowdown in Government spending where its transport division has already seen 100 staff made redundant from the highways department.

WSP added today: “In the UK we continue to make steady progress in the private and regulated sectors however the public sector, particularly transportation, remains challenging.

“This has necessitated additional restructuring action during the first half of this year.”