Britain's Most Admired Companies 2012: Construction - Heavy
These international construction giants dig holes, pour concrete, lay rails and weld steel frames together everywhere from Lithuania to London's Olympic Park, Sheffield to Shanghai.
Balfour Beatty tops its sector for a remarkable ninth year on the trot, despite a challenging market. Given a boost by contracts in the Olympic Park, the firm’s reported first-half pre-tax profits rose 2% to £93m on revenues up 6% to £5.5bn. But sales dipped 4% in September, prompting a profit warning. Bedfordshire-based Kier managed to keep a strong order book, despite revenues falling from £2.18bn to £2.07bn because of local government spending cuts. Costain takes third place – it now focuses on 40 or 50 blue-chip clients and major projects include Crossrail and London Bridge Station. Galliford Try rose to fourth on the back of rising sales and record annual profits of £63.1m.
