Jarvis plc doubled the size of its order book to £2.2bn last year, despite a contract dispute with Railtrack and a management restructure.

Negotiations are continuing over contracts worth about £15m, but Jarvis claims it is now well positioned after a year "of both consolidation and metamorphosis," according to Paris Moayedi, chief executive. He added that "all new contracts involved a partnering approach where the two sides could inspect each others' books so the problems caused by adversarial element in traditional contracts should be avoided. "

Jarvis is currently spending £12m with Cap Gemini and Oracle to upgrade its computerised management systems dealing with procurement, financial information and database links with its clients.

Jarvis says it has changed its accounting policies to spread profits and turnover from the design and preparation stage of contracts over the period of construction instead of booking them when the contract is signed.

The shares rose 3.5p to 160-1/2p. Meanwhile, Jarvis' turnover rose 8 per cent to £669.1m.

Anna Lagerkvist