In a first-half trading statement this morning chief executive Bill Hocking said the group’s order book had edged up to £3.5bn providing good visibility of future workload.

“The group is performing well with trading in line with the board’s expectations,” the group said. “We are well placed for the financial year to 30 June 2023 and continue to make good progress against our Sustainable Growth Strategy.”

The average month-end cash for the six months ended 31 December 2022 was circa £154m (year to 30 June 2022: £174m) and period-end cash at 31 December 2022 was circa £195m (31 December 2021: £211m). This is in line with the board’s expectations given the recent acquisitions, its ongoing investment in cloud-based digital systems as previously disclosed, and circa £10m of dividends and capital returns in the half year. The group maintains a portfolio of PPP assets and has no pensions liabilities and no debt or associated covenants.

The group’s order book of £3.5 billion was described as providing “good visibility” of future workload.

After over seven years on the board Gavin Slark, non-executive director, has decided to step down from the board on 31 March 2023, due to other business commitments.

Bill Hocking, Galliford Try chief executive, said: “Performance in the first half of the financial year has demonstrated good progress against our strategic objectives and provides confidence for the full year. We are pleased with our recent acquisition of MCS Control Systems and Ham Baker, complementing our existing operations and affording an enhanced specialist service to our water sector and related clients.

“We have excellent people and project teams, a strong balance sheet and high-quality order book in our chosen sectors. We have confidence in our ability to deliver our strategy and long-term sustainable value for all stakeholders.”

The group expects to announce its results for the half-year on 8 March 2023.