The company saw turnover 21% ahead at £4.24bn, with pretax profits up from £53m to £87.7m.

The results came with a bullish statement suggesting that the company would breach the £5bn turnover barrier much earlier than anticipated.

The group is growing an international business with hubs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and Australasia which create a range of growth opportunities and spread risk.

Total global employees increased to over 30,000 people spread across these three hubs.

Ray O’Rourke, chairman and chief executive, said: “”Our hub-based business model, coupled with the skills of our directly employed workforce, has ensured flexibility to respond to changing macroeconomic circumstances in each of our operational units. This approach has exposed the group to the considerable growth stories in each hub while de-risking the Group from the vagaries of any one market.”

Iain Ferguson, group finance director, said: “Laing O’Rourke has delivered a good set of results, beating our forecasts and generating cash.

“As we enter an economic environment not experienced for many years and with difficult financial markets, we can be satisfied that the group’s order book is at record levels, rising to over £10bn since the period end, our cash position is strong at £477m, an increase of 58% over 2007, and we have committed but unused banking facilities of £170m.”