The firm said it has secured 86% of next year’s revenue and was on course to maintain operating margins firmly above 2% despite challenging market conditions.

In a company trading update, chief executive Paul Sheffield, said: “We continue actively to track a wide range of opportunities in the infrastructure market which are expected to generate significant work for us in the short-to-medium term.

“Our primary targets are in the power and waste sectors, in which we have long-standing relationships with key industry clients.”

He added that the services division had maintained its £2bn order book and just agreed a one-year extension from 2013 to its long-standing building maintenance contract with Sheffield City Council, with a value of £64m.

Kier has also sold its PFI investment in the Sheffield Schools project to its own pension scheme for £4.5 The deal comes hard on the heels of its disposal of its stakes in Oldham and Norwich Schools PFI projects.

On the housing side, Kier is on track to complete the first phase of plot disposals to several buyers by the end of this month. This will return £30m of cash during the next two years.