WSP ‘firing on all cylinders’ and confident it will ride out storm

Cole, speaking after the company announced a 28% jump in turnover to £577.4m for the year ended 31 December 2007, said its businesses were firing on all cylinders. He said: “We keep a close eye on risk and there is no single sector in any territory that accounts for more than 10% of turnover in its particular region.”

The consultant, which is working on the Shard in central London and the World Trade Centre in New York, posted a pre-tax profit of £37.4m, which was up 42% from £26.5m the previous year.

Francesca Raleigh, analyst at Numis, said: “The results were consistent with the message from other consultants that current trading is good.”

Last year the company made nine acquisitions for a total of £44m but Cole said the pace would slow this year because businesses had yet to drop their prices to realistic levels after the credit crunch.