Emcor Group's turnover and order book down 20pc

In a statement released to the New York stock exchange this afternoon, Emcor UK’s parent company reported its order book fell by the same amount to £2.1 billion from £2.6 billion a year earlier, while profit fell by 12 per cent to £106 million.

Emcor Group chairman and chief executive Frank MacInnis said: “Despite the economic challenges faced throughout 2009, Emcor Group’s fourth quarter capped a year in which we generated the second highest level of profits in our history, surpassed only by our extraordinary performance in 2008.

“Our results are reflective of the many actions we have taken to better position our business across the economic cycle, as well as our disciplined approach to project bidding and cost controls, which allowed us to achieve increased operating margins for the full year despite lower revenue levels.”

He added: “We maintained our focus on cash generation throughout the year, and in doing so achieved record levels of cash flow and further strengthened what was already a robust and liquid balance sheet.”

The firm said they were positioning themselves in the US to benefit from government stimulus spending but made no mention of the UK market and its prospects for the year ahead.