Big building jobs in the capital lift Atkins by 9%

Design engineer WS Atkins is keeping the recession from the door with a slew of big jobs in London as it helps to build the Olympics, construct Crossrail and upgrade the M25.

As a consultant it is set to get even busier next year, its chief executive Keith Clarke said today, with government departments, local authorities and big business grappling with huge carbon rationing commitments to meet the 34% emission reduction targets in the new Climate Change Act.

Atkins, which was so bruised by the Metronet Tube maintenance fiasco, today brushed off the downturn in the UK and Middle East construction markets by reporting a 9% jump in pre-tax profits to £102 million in the year to the end of March.

It would have been nearer a 20% leap in earnings but for a near-doubling in financing costs. The dividend is up 8% to 26p.

Since the year end the work has kept flowing: Locog, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, has brought in Atkins to deliver the non-permanent stadia and venues in Stratford; Crossrail has handed Atkins and its partner Arup work to design the tunnels through central London as well as build a new Tottenham Court Road station; and Atkins and Balfour Beatty have been handed a £6.2 billion roadworks contract for the orbital M25, Britain's most bunged-up motorway.

Clarke said the Climate Change Act will also be a boon for Atkins.

"The carbon reduction commitments are going to be a huge challenge and people have to start getting serious about it," he said. "That will be good news for all our businesses."