Balfour Beatty bucked the economic gloom today by reporting a 25% rise in half-year profits and forecasting a strong finish to its financial year.

Engineering group Balfour Beatty today said it had won more than £360m (€518.6m) of new deals as it posted annual results at the top end of expectations.

British engineering group Balfour Beatty today said its chief executive was stepping down as it posted a 33% rise in underlying interim pre-tax profits to £68m (€83m).