Engineering group Amec yesterday said continuing economic woes and difficulties in its UK utilities and US construction management arms sent half-yearly pre-tax profits tumbling 14 per cent.

The firm said pre-tax profits in the six months to June 30 dipped to £35.7m from £41.6 m last time.

It blamed the drop on the ongoing impact of the industrial downturn in the second half of last year, a disappointing performance in construction management in the US and a decline in its UK utilities business.

However, the group said the results met its expectations and it anticipated a marked improvement in the second half.

Chief executive Sir Peter Mason said: "Amec should make sound progress in the year as a whole."

Amec supplies design, project delivery and maintenance support services to the oil and gas, transport, industrial and infrastructure industries.

With annual revenues of about £5bn, it employs about 45,000 people in the UK, with bases in Darlington, Sedgefield and Wallsend.

The group said the first half performance in the majority of areas in which it is involved was good, with the fundamentals of the oil and gas, transport and infrastructure markets remaining extremely encouraging. It said its order book had grown ten per cent to £3.6bn in the period.

But it said it had seen no improvement in industrial markets. Oil and gas remained buoyant and the group, which works with BP, Shell and other major industry players, won more than £500m-worth of business since December.