Maritime services group Boskalis announced improved first half figures with profit rising 21% to €306.5m.

Turnover rose 1.6% to €1.57bn. However, the order book value fell to just under €3bn.

Boskalis said the drop in order book value can be put down to the completion of the Suez Canal expansion for which the company carried out all the dredging.

Chief executive Peter Berdowski said in a statement that expectations for the second half of 2015 are more cautious. ‘We need to catch up on maintenance of our dredgers following the Suez Canal job, which will lead to higher costs and lower turnover,’ he said.