Shares in Carillion (CLLN) fell more than 4 per cent after the support services group warned that total orders in the second half of the 2016 calendar year would be down from the £2.5bn secured in the first half. However, at £4.5bn expected new orders for the whole year will still be up from £3.7bn in 2015.
The second-half slowdown was blamed on a slower pace of contract awards in the Middle East as a result of weak oil prices, while UK government departments were busy reassessing their spending priorities following the EU referendum. The total order book remained significant at around £16bn, although this was down from £17.4bn a year earlier, while revenue visibility for 2017 was lower at 70 per cent compared with 84 per cent for 2016 a year earlier.