Profits at construction group Balfour Beatty surged in the first half of the year as the group's reorganisation continued to take effect.

For the six months to July 1, the company made pre-exceptional profits before tax of £35 million, up from £16 million a year earlier.

The restructured group has undertaken a streamlining operation this year which has seen it position itself into three core markets - engineering, construction and services.

Last year the sale of the group's energy cable business saw it take a £408 million hit in its bottom-line results.

However this year, the sale of the group's Brand-Rex data cable business to rival group Caradon and the completion of the energy cable deal saw the group take an exceptional profit of £12 million.

This gain boosted pre-tax profits for the period to £47 million against a loss of £392 million last year. Turnover was £1.07 billion against £1.5 billion.

Earlier this year the group bought Marta and Metroplex, two US trackwork specialists, for a combined cost of £43.3 million.

Balfour also bought Integral Technologies, a US building security systems for up to £33 million.

Chairman Viscount Weir said: "We will continue to strengthen our core businesses and are evaluating further potential acquisitions and investments in growth markets.

"We believe that our momentum in improving efficiency and business processes will continue to contribute to profit improvement.

"Trading conditions in the short term continue to be broadly positive, although there remains a shortage of major project work in the UK pending the delivery of the planned investment programmes."

Shareholders will receive an interim dividend of 2p a share.