Carillion confident after solid 2011

UK-based contractor Carillion was bullish on future growth after reporting a 13% increase in underlying profit in 2011 to £212 million (€252.4 million).

However, the company said one-off costs of £47.5 million (€57 million) relating to last year's acquisition of renewable energy company Eaga - since renamed Carillion Energy Services - had driven overall pre-tax profits down 15% year-on-year to £143 million (€170 million).

Carillion said while this deal had boosted its revenues, the effect had been offset by its planned re-scaling of its UK construction operations. As a result, 2011 revenues were unchanged year-on-year at £5.1 billion (€6.1 billion).

Revenues from the UK represented 73% of the total, down from 76% in 2010, while revenues from Canada grew to represent 16% of the total, against 14% in 2010, and Middle East and North Africa revenues were up 1% year-on-year to represent 11% of the total.

Carillion also reported an order book of £19.1 billion (€23 billion), stable compared to 2010, while the company's pipeline of contract opportunities jumped 23% year-on-year to £33.1 billion (€39.4 billion).

Carillion chairman Philip Rogerson said the company's mix of services and international business had helped it faced down difficult market conditions.

"Given the wider economic outlook, we expect trading conditions to remain challenging in 2012. However, with a strong and resilient business, good revenue visibility and a record pipeline of contract opportunities, we continue to target growth in support services together with the doubling of our revenues in the Middle East and in Canada, in each case to around £1 billion (€1.2 billion), by 2015," he added.