6 July 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal
Carillion reports that its first-half revenue and operating margin in support services are both expected to move ahead, according to financial results published this week.
At the half year point, the value of the group's order book plus probable orders was £17.4 billion (31 December 2015: £17.4 billion) and revenue visibility for 2016 had increased to around 97 per cent - up from 84 per cent at 31 December 2015.
In addition, the group continues to have a substantial pipeline of specific contract opportunities, which at the half-year was worth £41.5 billion (31 December 2015: £41.4 billion).
A Carillion statement said: "With our support services order book and pipeline remaining strong, we are on track to achieve both revenue and margin growth for the full year, in line with previous guidance and with our strategy of growing this segment of our business, which we expect to contribute nearly two-thirds of the group's total operating profit.
"Overall, we continue to believe that the outlook for our support services activities remains positive, driven by the demand for infrastructure services and the continued outsourcing of facilities management in the UK, supported by a good pipeline of opportunities in Canada and the Middle East."
It added that the referendum vote in favour of the UK leaving the European Union "has obviously created uncertainty for the UK economy as a whole and therefore for businesses generally, including Carillion, and it is clearly too early to predict the extent to which businesses will be impacted by this result".