Revenues top £1bn for first time as 2005 profit at Alfred McAlpine increases to £37.4m.

Alfred McAlpine has increased profit by 12% to £37.4m thanks to strong growth across all its divisions. Revenues also improved by 12% to £1.089bn for the year to 31 December 2005.

The support services group was able to withstand a one-off cost in its utilities division thanks to a £13.5m profit on disposals.

It said that it had made good progress in reshaping its Infrastructure Services business after a challenging year in the utilities market. A new management team was established in 2005 and the group said it was in a position to take advantage of the expected upturn in government utilities spending.

Alfred McAlpine said it experienced strong growth in its Business Services division and solid performance from Project Services.

In a strong start to 2006 the group won £800m of contracts with Mapeley, Central Networks and Scottish and Southern Energy.

Group chief executive Ian Grice said: "We enter 2006 with a record £3.5bn order book and over £800m of new business already secured this year, and believe we are well placed to deliver the double digit growth that we are targeting for 2006."

Shares rose 3.4p to 431.4p on news of the results, which were in line with a trading statement published at the end of last year.