Thirsk, North Yorkshire-based steel group Severfield said on Tuesday its revenue rose 40% to £186 million and underlying profit before tax was up 3% to £8.4 million in the six months to September 30, 2020.

Severfield has decided to maintain its interim dividend at 1.1p per share.

Severfield’s ongoing major projects include new stadium work at Fulham FC, the redevelopment of Lord’s Cricket Ground and the new Google headquarters at King’s Cross in London.

The firm’s UK and Europe order book stood at £287 million on November 1, 2020, with its India order book at £98 million.

Severfield CEO Alan Dunsmore said: “The resilience provided by our market sector, geographical and client diversity, together with the actions that we have taken to date have enabled us to navigate well through the challenging conditions of COVID-19.

“This has resulted in a strong operational performance in the first half of the year.

“We have a strong balance sheet, good visibility of future earnings from our order books and pipelines, and a strong reputation for delivery of complex projects for our long-standing clients.

“There is now greater clarity of the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the current year’s performance and, on the assumption of no further significant business interruptions arising from any widespread and prolonged secondary lockdown, we expect to improve upon our first half profitability in the second half of the financial year.”