MAINTENANCE and building group Interserve said its exposure to the fast-growing Middle East market helped half-year profits improve by almost 20 per cent.

The Reading-based firm added that overall prospects remained strong for the rest of the year, with a future workload worth £6.1bn at the end of June, compared with £5.7bn on December 31.

Interserve has been in the Middle East for more than 25 years and said its active development of operations there meant it now generated around 30 per cent of its profits from the region.

Overall group profits for the six months to June 30 stood at £33.7m, compared with £28.2m a year earlier.

In the UK, Interserve said its outsourcing operation had benefited as customers in both public and private sectors looked to reduce costs and improve service delivery.

Its UK construction activities were focused on sectors such as health and education, with demand likely to remain strong. Tweet