Balfour Beatty says order book and trading remain in line, offers upbeat outlook

FTSE 250 constituent Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY) said trading and order book remained in line with its interim management statement released in November, when the construction group said that 2009 would be a “year of good progress” and reported an order book of £13.7 billion, now saying it is confident about prospects in the current year despite the ongoing economic downturn.

The group’s portfolio was enhanced by the acquisition of Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) last October, giving it presence across the entire life cycle of major infrastructure assets, prompting it to report business performance in four segments.

The construction services segment has recently won two new infrastructure contracts in Hong Kong for Gammon Construction worth £180 million with construction activities arising from the expansion of an existing military housing concession at Fort Bliss in the US and financial close on the Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton Councils' Building Schools for the Future scheme.

Balfour Beatty said there would be a full year contribution from PB to the professional services segment in 2010 as post-acquisition integration work proceeded well, including the integration of Heery in the US and Balfour Beatty Management in the UK.

The group’s support services business has also performed well, ending the year with a strong order book after winning a seven year contract to provide integrated facilities management services to defence contractor QinetiQ (LSE: QQ), while the utilities business won new AMP 5 capital programme contracts with United Utilities (LSE: UU) and Anglian Water for a total of about £600 million.

Earlier this week, the group announced financial close on the £450 million Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton Councils' Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Balfour Beatty also reached financial close on an expansion of an existing military housing concession with the US Army at Fort Bliss, while also looking at a number of areas in the US outside of military housing with a demand for financing, designing and constructing infrastructure assets.

The group said the broad portfolio gives it confidence about its prospects despite uncertainties in some of its markets.  http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/12233/balfour-beatty-says-order-book-and-trading-remain-in-line-offers-upbeat-outlook-12233.html