Milestone
Balfour Beatty order book stands at £22.9bn at half year
By Staff Writer | 14 August 2026
Balfour Beatty reported an order book of £22.9bn for the half year ended 26 June 2026, against £22.7bn at the 2025 year end and £19.5bn at the same point last year, with revenue up 8 per cent to £5,563m.
Underlying profit from operations rose to £119m from £77m. The earnings-based businesses, Construction Services and Support Services, produced £153m against £108m, an increase of 42 per cent. Underlying pre-tax profit was £139m against £95m. On a statutory basis pre-tax profit was £129m against £132m, the difference arising from non-underlying items, which were a net charge of £8m after tax against a credit of £28m a year earlier.
The largest of those non-underlying items was an increase of £9m in the provision the group holds for claims under the Building Safety Act 2022, which it attributes to reassessments and settlements of previously provided claims together with legal costs incurred. It is recognised in the Construction Services segment.
The group raised full year guidance. It now expects low double digit percentage growth in profit from operations from the earnings-based businesses, against previous guidance of high single digit growth, and has lifted average net cash guidance by £200m to a range of £1.5bn to £1.7bn.
Supported by a £23 billion order book, attractive growth markets and strong operational momentum, Balfour Beatty is well positioned to deliver these programmes safely, efficiently and at scale.
Philip Hoare, Group Chief Executive, Balfour Beatty
Where the order book sits
Construction Services holds £18.9bn of the total, up 1 per cent in the period from £18.7bn. Within that, the United Kingdom construction order book was unchanged at £8.9bn, United States construction fell 1 per cent to £7.7bn, and the group's share of Gammon in Hong Kong grew 15 per cent to £2.3bn. Support Services was flat at £4.0bn.
Awards booked in the period include a £325m two year contract for the Netherton Hub in Aberdeenshire, secured through an offshore transmission framework, a £138m contract for a dual carriageway and two bridges at North Hykeham in Lincolnshire, an £83m contract for Forres Academy in Moray, and the renewal of the £315m seven year Warwickshire highways maintenance contract. In the United States the group took a $361m order at Raleigh Durham International Airport, a $266m contract at Fort Carson in Colorado, and around $350m of data centre orders.
The number behind the number
Two points are worth separating for anyone reading a reported order book. The first is that £22.9bn and £23bn are the same figure at different precision, and the rounded version appears in the chief executive's own statement. The precise figure is the one in the results table.
The second is what the order book excludes. The group states that beyond the reported figure there are opportunities within long term framework arrangements in United Kingdom power transmission and distribution and in defence, where work is increasingly awarded through phased programmes and task orders, and that this work enters the order book only when contracted. The Support Services power order book was flat for that reason, with projects still in design and expected to enter construction over the next 18 months, at which point their full value is added.
What the divisional numbers show
United Kingdom construction revenue was broadly flat at £1,569m with profit from operations of £54m, a margin of 3.4 per cent against 3.6 per cent. The prior year figure included a one-off £10m insurance recovery, and excluding it the division grew profit by 17 per cent. Eighty five per cent of its order book is from public sector and regulated industry clients, and 85 per cent of orders are on target cost or cost-plus terms.
United States construction revenue rose 19 per cent to £2,475m and returned to profit at £22m against a loss of £11m, following growth in buildings and a reduced loss in civils after a write-down on a single joint venture highways project in Texas in the first half of 2025. Support Services revenue rose 10 per cent to £727m with profit up 43 per cent to £66m, a margin of 9.1 per cent against 6.9 per cent, driven by power transmission.
Average net cash rose to £1,616m from £1,212m at the 2025 year end. The interim dividend is 4.7 pence, up 12 per cent, and £102m of the £200m 2026 share buyback tranche was completed in the half.