Amec, the engineering group, looked forward to a “much stronger” second half of the year as it bucked the downturn in the natural resources sector but suffered from the weakness of process industries in Britain and the US.

Pre-tax profits fell 4 per cent to £88.4m for the six months to June 30, on revenue almost unchanged at £1.26bn. Earnings per share from continuing operations fell 3 per cent to 19.5p, but the interim dividend is raised 15 per cent to 6.1p, which Samir Brikho, chief executive, said “demonstrates our continuing confidence in the future”.