A series of contract wins and new strategic alliances have helped support services group Mouchel Parkman double its profits.
The company, which employs 600 people in the Midlands, announced a 119 per cent rise in pretax profits to £22.1 million in the year to the end of July and a record £1 billion order book.
The group lifted its basic earnings per share by 131per cent to 16.6 pence and its final dividend by 22 pct to 2.2p, giving it a total dividend for the year of 3.3p.
Investec advised investors to buy Mouchel's shares, describing the figures as good and its statement as positive.
"Mouchel operates in a buoyant market," the broker said. "It has a record order book of £1 billion and a bidding pipeline of equal size.
"This gives it good visibility and enables management to be confident about both the short-term and long-term."
Alan Matthews, at Seymour Pierce, said the results were in line with the broker's forecasts and it was not changing its current year estimates or its outperform recommendation.
He said: "We think the high level of visibility and quality of earnings, particularly in an environment where there is uncertainty over the performance of the UK economy, makes Mouchel Parkman a relatively defensive stock."
Mouchel Parkman said it planned to bid with partnders for a £4 billion to £5 billion contract to upgrade London's M25 orbital motorway.
Chief executive Richard Cuthbert said Mouchel and its roads joint venture partner Accord are talking to potential partners about forming a consortium to bid for the deal to widen the remaining 62 miles of three-lane carriageway on the M25 to four lanes.
