Balfour Beatty profit jumps 25 percent

Wed Aug 13, 2008 8:31am BST

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LONDON (Reuters) - Construction and services group Balfour Beatty (BALF.L) posted a 25 percent rise in first-half profit on Wednesday and said it expects order intake and trading to remain strong throughout the year.

The company reported pretax profit before exceptionals of 95 million pounds for the six months to 28 June, compared to 76 million pounds last year and a median consensus forecast of 92 million pounds in a Reuters poll of five analysts.

The interim dividend rose 11 percent to 5.1 pence.

(Reporting by Marc Roca, editing by Rory Channing)

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