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Revenue grew by 9% and underlying pre-tax profits jumped by over a quarter at Kier in the six months to 31 December.

The contractor has also increased its interim dividend from 18.5p to 20p compared to the same six months in 2009.

Its order book for construction and support services was steady at over 拢4bn, the company said, and it has secured 65% of its targeted revenue order book for 2012.

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Kier鈥檚 revenue now stands at 拢1,097m, compared to 拢1,010m in 2009.

It made an underlying pre-tax profit of 拢31.3m compared to 拢24.8m in 2009 - although this excludes a profit in that year of 拢7.1m from Partnerships Homes land.

Kier also announced that Dick Simkin, the firm鈥檚 executive director for developments, would retire at the end of the financial year.

Paul Sheffield, chief executive, said: 鈥淜ier continues to perform well and in line with expectations despite the current challenging economic environment. The group has delivered good underlying profits and cash generation, and it has also maintained robust order books since the June year end.

鈥淥ur success is underpinned by our strong track record, geographic coverage, deep鈥憆ooted customer relationships and an increasing number of framework agreements and collaborative partnerships.

鈥淲e continue to attract a wide variety of opportunities in our divisions and are encouraged by the prospects we see in markets such as power, infrastructure, commercial, mixed鈥憉se regeneration and overseas,鈥� he said.