In an upbeat half-year trading statement this morning, Carillion chief executive Richard Howson said the group was on track to deliver growth this year with 97% of targeted revenue in place for 2016.

Howson said Brexit was unlikely to impact on Carillion in the short term although the longer term effect was more uncertain.

“The referendum vote in favour of the UK leaving the European Union has obviously created uncertainty for the UK economy as a whole and therefore for businesses generally, including Carillion, and it is clearly too early to predict the extent to which businesses will be impacted by this result. 

“However, Carillion has no significant operations in Mainland Europe and prior to the referendum we undertook extensive work to assess the possible impact on our business of a vote to leave and we have put in place robust plans to manage this outcome,” said the trading statement.

Carillion’s construction arm continued to deliver strong margins of around 2.5%-3% in the first half of the year as it stuck to its selective bidding strategy.

He said support services was now expected to drive group turnover and profit growth for the full year, putting these activities on track to deliver two thirds of total operating profit.

Work winning has remained strong, with new first-half orders and probable orders worth £2.5bn. This includes £24om of new contract wins revaled today for a-4.5 year support services contract for Petroleum Development Oman and two support services contracts for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

The housing contracts have an initial value of £60m, but are potentially worth up to £366 million over 10 years.