There were mixed fortunes at UK contractors this week as Carillion and Balfour Beatty posted full-year results.

Carillion was upbeat as it posted a 48% increase in pre-tax profit to £82m for the year ending 31 December on the back of a 57% rise in turnover to £3.6bn. Its acquisition of Mowlem is finally set to pay off, generating cost savings of £26m a year – a far cry from the £135m writedown associated with the company earlier this year.

Chris Girling, Carillion’s outgoing finance director, ruled out making a bid for Amec’s built environment division. “We looked at it but we passed. We didn’t look at it for very long,” he said. He leaves at the end of April.

Balfour Beatty recorded an 11% fall in pre-tax profit to £125m after £25m of exceptionals.

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