Ministry of Defence is not convinced the American engineering group will be financially stable once it leaves parent

The government has forced Halliburton to delay the flotation of its engineering and contracting group KBR.

The company was to start trading on the New York stock exchange but the Ministry of Defence is not convinced that KBR will be financially stable once it is separated from its parent.

KBR is one of the Ministry of Defence's biggest contractors and it has a 51% stake in Devonport dockyard. The Ministry of Defence requires that contractors managing its assets has a high degree of financial stability.