Willmott Dixon Group made £8.6m in pre-tax profit in the six months to 30 June, up from £6.3m in the same period last year.

Turnover was broadly flat, up from £475m to £481m, but chief executive Rick Willmott said to maintain this amount of revenue in 2011 and 2012 the company would have to “secure an increasing proportion of the declining public sector market and to secure a substantial foothold in new private sector markets as they come on stream”.

He said that cuts in the October spending review “will inevitably have an impact on the wider industry” but added that the company was “continuing to take steps to position the group with longer-term projects”.