Construction group Morgan Sindall is set to outperform expectations for 2017 after reporting a strong start to the year driven by record fit-out orders.

In a trading update issued this morning, the firm revealed that each of its divisions have performed as expected, with the overall group result being driven by further margin and profit growth in Fit Out and the expected margin improvement in Construction & Infrastructure.

The group’s committed order book as at 31 March 2017 was up 5% to £3.83 billion from the year-end position, while the regeneration & development pipeline was up 2% to £3.28bn.

The Fit Out business appears to be doing particularly well, with its order book up 17% to a record £544 million.

Good progress has been made with Partnership Housing’s mixed-tenure housing developments, while the scheduled timing of scheme completions in Urban Regeneration remains in line with plans. Consistent with last year, both divisions are expected to show a second half weighting to results.

Chief executive John Morgan said: “We have had a strong start to the year, and with our strategy geared towards those areas of the economy we expect to grow strongly, together with the size and quality of our order book and pipeline, we are confident that the momentum we have seen so far is set to continue.”