Balfour Beatty is now the largest contractor in the UK ranked by turnover - originally founded in 1909 by mechanical engineer George Balfour and chartered accountant Andrew Beatty. Publicly listed, it is the only UK contractor in the FTSE 100 index.

Balfour Beatty posted a group turnover of £9.24bn for the year ended 31 December 2010. Turnover totalled £10.54bn including joint ventures. Pre-tax profit reached £319m.

Balfour Beatty is split into four main divisions:

1) Professional services comprises Parsons Brinckerhoff and Balfour Beatty's professional services businesses.

Parsons Brinckerhoff is a US-based professional services firm, with a particular strength in the rail transit sector.

It offers professional services across the project life cycle from management consultancy and planning to design and engineering; programme, project and construction management services; and operational, maintenance and support services. It has more than 100 offices and about 12,500 employees.

2) Construction services comprises the Group's construction activities across building, civil engineering and rail sectors:

BUILDING

Balfour Beatty Construction has an annual turnover approaching £1 billion and carries out new-build and refurbishment work from four regional bases in Edinburgh, Sale, Bristol and London.

It breaks down into Balfour Beatty Scottish & Southern, and Balfour Beatty Northern, as well as Balfour Beatty Refurbishment, which works in Greater London.

Acquired by Balfour in 2007, regional contractor Cowlin now has an annual turnover in excess of £200m and a headcount of about 400 employees.

Cowlin works in Wales and the South-west of England, and has offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth, Swansea and Truro. It carries out projects across the education, healthcare, leisure, residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

Balfour Beatty bought Mansell in 2003. The company delivers buildings projects from 20 locations across the UK, and had a turnover of about £900 million in 2009.

Mansell specialise in affordable housing, education, health, defence, airports, commercial and heritage projects. Mansell has three specialist subsidiaries: Hall & Tawse Joinery; Kirby McLean; and Mansell Homes. Approximately 90 per cent of Mansell’s work is for repeat clients.

CIVILS

Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering carries out a range of works from construct-only civil works to complex asset-based services. It breaks down into two operating companies: Balfour Beatty Major Civil Engineering; and Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering.

Gammon, a joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Asian-based company Jardine Matheson, is headquartered in Hong Kong, and it also operates in China, Macao and Singapore.

It operates in a range of sectors, including commercial, residential, retail, hotel, community and industrial developments, plus roads, bridges, railways, tunnels, water, waste water and solid waste treatment. Gammon employs some 2,000 full-time staff.

Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions works across the water, wastewater, gas and electricity sectors, providing a range of services that contribute to the maintenance and provision of essential utility assets.

Balfour bought Dean & Dyball in 2008 and transferred the company’s building operations to Mansell and Cowlin. What remains is Dean & Dyball Civil Engineering, which provides a presence across Wales and the south of England. Dean & Dyball works primarily on energy, infrastructure, waste, water and port and coastal projects.

RAIL

The rail division is made up of all Balfour Beatty’s rail subsidiaries around the world.

3) Support services comprises the Group's utilities, facilities management, rail renewals and road management businesses.

4) Infrastructure investments promotes and invests in privately funded infrastructure assets and is the investment business as previously reported.

In April 2010, Balfour Beatty said subsidiaries Stent Foundations, Pennine Vibropiling and Branlow Piling would all now trade under the name of Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering.