Carillion eyed a record pot of potential contracts today after downsizing its construction arm and targeting more major UK outsourcing projects.
The Wolverhampton-based support services firm, which employs 45,000 people worldwide, said it had £35.6 billion worth of contracts to play for, having picked up £2.2 billion of business in the first half of 2012.
This included a five-year facilities management contract worth £45 million for the Ministry of Defence and a three-year contract for Direct Line Group.
It highlighted a "significant number" of local authority contracts as councils look to save cash, while its workload should also be boosted by the UK Government's £250 billion, five-year National Infrastructure Plan.
Carillion, which is supporting BT's Openreach division in the roll-out of superfast broadband, has scaled back construction work due to the current economic climate, meaning the division's revenues dropped by a third to £631.6 million.
But with construction margins improving due to more selective workloads, group underlying profits rose 1% to £73.1 million in a "robust" half-year performance.
