May Gurney has issued an upbeat trading statement for the six months ending 30 September 2010, despite its forward order book falling 18%.
The infrastructure support services provider has forward orders of 拢1.4bn, compared to , plus 鈥渁 pipeline of sales opportunities鈥� worth over 拢4bn.
The firm said trading in the first half of 2010 had been strong, with new contracts from West Oxfordshire District Council, Essex & Suffolk Water, Network Rail, and a three-year extension to its street lighting contract with the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
It is also currently bidding on a number of AMP5 contracts in the water sector.
May Gurney said it 鈥渂elieves the group will achieve the top end of market expectations for the full year 2010/11鈥�.
Philip Fellowes-Prynne, chief executive, added: 鈥淭his strong performance is a result of our consistent operational delivery, long-term customer relationships and strategic focus on providing essential front line services.
鈥淢ore than 95% of May Gurney's business is represented by long-term contracts and the group has an established market position, addressing markets worth around 拢16bn per annum.
鈥淥ur business model mean that we believe we are well placed as the October Comprehensive Spending Review measures are announced.鈥�
The firm's interim results for the six months to 30 September 2010 will be announced on 1 December.
Sign up to our or subscribe to our for regular updates on the latest , , , and .