O'Rourke revenue and profit fillip

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Laing O'Rourke is on course to hit its £5 billion turnover target 12 months early after seeing revenues rise one fifth last year.

Chief executive Ray O'Rourke has set the Dartford-based business of hitting the objective by 2010 but at current rates of growth the contractor will bust the figure next year.

Turnover in the year to March 2008 rose one fifth to come in at just over £4.2 billion. Earnings before interest and tax were up nearly two-thirds to just under £88 million meaning margins are just over 2 per cent.

The company, which calls itself a construction solutions company, said that its workforce now topped 30,000 – a rise of more than 8 per cent on last time.

Mr O'Rourke said the firm's order book had topped £10 billion since the period end and had £477 million of cash in the bank.

The firm has driven most of its rise through organic growth but it has made a number of acquisitions in recent years including Barclay Mowlem, the Australian building business Carillion picked up with its takeover of Mowlem, and two other former Carillion businesses, M&E firm Crown House and piling firm Expanded.

The bulk of the firm's turnover comes from its Europe operations which saw revenues of £3.2 billion for the period. Most of its business in Europe is derived from the UK but chief operating officer Tony Douglas has previously talked about expanding the company further into the Continent.

Workloads over in the Middle East and India hit £420 million with the firm's key job in Dubai being the $20 billion Al Raha Beach Project in Abu Dhabi.

And it is also targeting the burgeoning Indian economy through its joint venture with Delhi Land & Financial and has started work on the Delhi Convention centre which will be used to host events for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Business in Australasia saw revenue hit £580 million with the firm concentrating on engineering and infrastructure, building and railway construction and maintenance.