Carillion wary on UK construction

2nd Mar 2011 08:08

Carillion has maintained a bullish stance on prospects in the Middle East despite the current wave of political unrest across the region."We continue to believe we are well-positioned to make further progress in 2011 towards our objective of doubling our share of revenue from our Middle East businesses to £1bn over the next three to five years," it said alongside full year numbers.The contractor's Middle East businesses chipped in an unchanged £47.5m profit in 2010 as margins picked up, out of total operating profit of £223m, down slightly from £226m the previous year. Reported profits overall rose by 24% to £168m, with an underlying improvement of 7%. The dividend for the year rises by 6% to 15.5p. Total revenue reduced by 9% to £5.1bn after disposals of Public Private Partnership projects in 2009 and a "planned re-scaling of UK construction".The forward order book is worth some £18.2bn (2009: £17.9bn) with a Middle East pipeline of contract opportunities of £8.8bn, double last year, out of a total pipeline of £25bn."Although trading conditions are expected to remain difficult, especially in our UK markets, we are well positioned to make further progress in 2011 and to achieve our objectives for medium term growth, namely doubling the revenues of our international businesses, while delivering substantial growth in UK support services." the firm said.