This comes despite dip in business in the Middle East

Hyder has posted a 35% increase in pre-tax profit on falling global revenue, and has seen a sharp dip in business in the Middle East off-set by growing work in Asia Pacific.

In preliminary results, the consultant posted pre-tax profit of £18.2m on revenue of £290m in the year to 31 March, down from £309m in 2010.

Yet the consultant was forced to cut 501 jobs over the course of the year.

In the UK, revenue declined to £87.2m from £95.9m last year, and Hyder warned that the transport sector was “challenging”.

Middle East work plummeted and revenue was down 30% to £65.5m. This was caused by “both a scaling back of operations in Dubai, following the completion of contracts there, and delays in contract awards in the region,” the firm said.