Chief executive says firm hopes to beat market forecasts after a strong start to year

Morgan Sindall is hoping to beat market forecasts for the year after a strong start to 2016.

Analysts have pencilled in year end pre-tax profit of between £42.5m and £43m, but chief executive John Morgan told Building he was “hopeful” this would be exceeded.

The firm said it had drawn a line under the heavy losses from its work at the Faslane naval base in Scotland.

Morgan said the impact of the UK’s decision to leave the EU had not yet been felt. He added: “When you run a business you always have uncertainty. It’s just that Brexit is a very high profile uncertainty.”

Fit-out, which analysts expect to be badly hit by Brexit, posted a strong July with £150m worth of orders across more than 30 contracts, Morgan said. Around 70% of its work is in London.

In the six months to June, the firm rebounded into the black with a pre-tax profit of £15.4m from a £27.2m loss last time on turnover flat at £1.1bn.