UK-based contractor, Carillion has posted a rise in net profits for the first half of 2012, despite a slump in revenues.
The firm blamed re-scaling of UK construction and the timing of project awards in the Middle East for the revenue decline.
The group also said the Middle East had seen some movement in infrastructure project bids that have been delayed by financing from Europe’s euro zone crisis-hit banks.
Pre-tax profits rose 1% to $115.5m, despite a 12% fall in revenues to $3.4bn, said Carillion.
The contractor won $3.7bn in new and probable orders in the first half, with total orders and probable orders worth $28.9bn as at June 30, 2012, slightly down on 2011 year-end figures of $30.2bn.
“We remain on track to deliver full-year results in line with expectations and to achieve our medium-term targets, namely to deliver growth in support services and to double our annual revenues in the Middle East and in Canada in the five-year period to 2015, in each case to around $1.58bn,” said Carillion chairman, Philip Rogerson.