Publishing its half year results for the six months to 31 December 2021, the construction group said business has improved across all areas, increasing revenue, profit (before exceptional items) and margin. Average month-end cash has also remained very strong at £180m.

“With the underlying performance robust, and a number of key contract and framework positions secured during the period, the business is in an excellent position to take advantage of increasing public sector pipelines going forward,” Galliford Try said.

The business also reported exceptional costs of £9.7m, which relate to integration costs following the acquisition of nmcn’s water business, as well as a strategic investment in a new cloud-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) infrastructure.

Bill Hocking, chief executive of Galliford Try, said: “The group has continued to perform well in the first half of the financial year, successfully managing industry-wide material shortages and inflation. I am pleased to report that we are making good progress against our Sustainable Growth Strategy, including towards our target of 3% divisional operating margin across Building and Infrastructure.

“The acquisition of nmcn’s water businesses is fully aligned with our strategy and offers significant opportunity for our growing Environment business enhancing our water, engineering, off-site build and asset optimisation capabilities.

“I am excited about the future given our excellent people, strong balance sheet, market-leading sector positions, investment in supplier relationships and high-quality order book. The Group continues to trade well and is well placed to continue to deliver improving strong performance and long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders.”