Infrastructure specialist Balfour Beatty has reported a strong performance over the past five months. The construction giant has a confirmed order book of £13.7bn, thanks in part to the recent acquisition of US-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, and said performance had been in line with expectation. Less positive was the news from its rail, utility and ground engineering businesses. However, a trading update said contracts for educational establishments in Hull, Lincolnshire, Stoke-on-Trent and West Sussex had resulted in a good UK construction performance. Despite its ground engineering business suffering, it reported its civil engineering arm was doing well, driven by road projects, including the widening of the M25. Shares in the company reacted positively to the news and rose 1.4% minutes after markets opened when the news was released last Friday. A statement to the stock market put out by the company said: ‘As is well understood, we have businesses in a large number of diverse markets, both geographically and by sector, which operate at different points in the economic cycle.'