Costain ready to ride out construction slowdown

Aaron Morby 14 years ago
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Costain’s focus on clients carrying out essential infrastructure maintenance is paying off with profit growth and a strong order book.

The once ailing contractor has turned around its fortunes and delivered pre-tax profits in the first half of the year up 19% at £8.8m.

The company’s order book is steady at £2.5bn, with around £1bn secured for 2010.

Looking forward, Costain is preferred bidder on a further £500m worth of work and has so far secured £570m of next year’s revenue.

Turnover in the six months to June 30 edged up 5% to £533m with operating margins slightly up at 1.6%.

Costain chairman David Allvey, said: “The group entered the second half of the year with a good order book, robust finances and a net cash balance in excess of £100 million.

“Whilst challenging market conditions are set to continue for the foreseeable future, the board expects to report continued progress at the year-end in line with its expectations.”

    First half results by division

  • Infrastructure Turnover £224m (£164m); Profit £8.0 (£6.8)
  • Orderbook £1bn
  • Environment Turnover £247m ( £301m) Profit £1.2m (£2.6m)
  • Orderbook £1.3bn
  • Energy and Process Turnover £62m (£43m); profit £3.1m (£2.7m)
  • Orderbook £150m
  • Land and development Turnover £0.5m (£0.6m); Loss £0.5 (£0.7m)

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