Galliford Try said that it has increased its order book in the last year as it benefited from higher spend from water companies.
The business said that its order book had swelled to £3.7 billion at the end of December, compared to £3.5 billion a year earlier.
The business reported that revenue rose 20.6% to £819 million in the six months to the end of December. Pre-tax profit rose from £11.7 million to £15.6 million in the same period, Galliford said.
“I am very pleased with the group’s performance in the first half of the financial year,” said chief executive Bill Hocking.
“There is strong momentum in the business and our continued excellent performance is a reflection of our disciplined strategy, committed people and long-established relationships with our supply chain and clients.
“The group has delivered increased revenue and divisional operating margin, as we make accelerated progress towards our strategic objectives, and we will continue to provide long-term sustainable value for our stakeholders.”
Galliford focuses on construction for the public sector or regulated businesses such as the water industry.
It said that its environment unit is benefiting from high levels of spending from its clients in the water sector.
The building arm saw a 12% rise in revenue to £446.0 million during the period, and operating profit rose by £1.3 million to £10.6 million before amortisation.
Galliford said that the building sector had benefited from work that was delayed by inflation and challenges in public sector procurement in 2022.
The building unit has an over book of £2.2 billion, of which around a quarter is in education, just under a third is in defence and custodial, 15% is in facilities management and 4% is in health.
“Our strong and high quality order book, predominantly in long term frameworks, provides visibility and security of future workloads and continued growth prospects well beyond the current financial year,” Mr Hocking said.
“Our performance, over the last three years, together with our excellent people and our strong balance sheet, gives us confidence to announce our updated strategy to 2030 at a capital markets event on May 23 2024.”