Shares up after construction firm Costain’s order book hits a record £4.2bn

Shares in Costain are up more than five per cent after the construction and engineering company announced today that it finished the year with a record-breaking order book of £4.2bn.

In a trading update the firm, which is a major supplier to Network Rail and Highways England, said it had an order book of £4.2bn, up from £3.9bn in 2017 and is the preferred bidder on £600m worth of projects compared to £400m the previous year.

The group finished the year with a net cash position of more than £110m, which was in line with expectations, down from £177.7m last year due to 2017's "exceptionally high level due to the timing of receipts in that period."

Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie CBE said: “This has been another year of progress for Costain. The benefits of out integrated offering, long-term strategic relationships with our clients and strong balance sheet position us well for the future and the significant opportunity we see across our rapidly-changing end markets.”

The update comes ahead of the publication of the company's full-year results on 6 March.