Costain has said a record first-half order book of £2bn would help it through the credit crunch.

In addition to recent contract wins worth more than £200m it has more than £600m of work on its book for 2009. The company said it had a “resilient platform” and that 2008 results would be in line with expectations. The consensus forecast for the year ended 31 December is pre-tax profit of £24m on turnover of £800m.