The firm, which has a £12.8bn order book, bucked a "more competitive" environment to report "steady" UK trading and a stronger showing in the US helped by new deals and acquisitions.

Despite flagging markets in parts of its UK rail business, the firm has made good progress on a host of road projects and began work in May on a major £6.2bn scheme to widen the M25 motorway.

Balfour - the UK's biggest building firm - hopes to make progress this year despite the recession due to its strong market positions.

The company, which celebrated its centenary this year and joined the FTSE 100 for the first time, is seen as more resilient due to its broad geographical and business spread as well as a strong proportion of public sector work.

Balfour said: "Performance continues to be in line with expectations, underpinned by continued infrastructure expenditure by our customers, the benefit of acquisitions and our tight control of costs."