Keller, which helped prepare the ground for the Palm-Jumeirah Island in Dubai and Melbourne’s Eureka Tower, posted an annual underlying pretax profit of 39.6 million pounds ($63.84 million).

This compared with a consensus of 40.7 million, according to a poll of 8 analysts supplied by the company and a profit of 74.7 million pounds in 2009.

Weak construction markets in the US and Europe were to blame for the year-on-year drop in profits, Keller said.

“We do not anticipate a rapid return to pre-recession levels of construction spend,” it said

The group’s order book was 13 percent ahead year-on-year at the end of January but Keller warned that the medium-term outlook would remain challenging as the full impact of government cutbacks is felt.

Revenue growth will return in 2011 in the US , Eastern Europe and Asia, offset by a slight decline in Australia and Western Europe, but overall margin weakness is dragging on the outlook.

“We expect consensus for FY 2011 to drift down 5-10 percent toward our estimates. This is driven by margin weakness across the developed world and a slightly weaker performance in Australia,” said analysts at Liberum Capital.

Keller, whose largest market is in the US, said this market was likely to remain flat in 2011, before rebounding in 2012.

The company recently completed work on a government building project in Washington.

“Public markets in the States declined for the first year in 20 years in 2010, and we’ll probably see further decline in 2011, but you’re likely to see the private markets coming back at the back end of the year,” Chief Executive Justin Atkinson said.

Geographical diversification has helped the company offset some of the downturn in its mature markets.

It is targeting both organic and inorganic growth in Brazil and Asian markets such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam and is looking at Indonesia at present.

Though Atkinson said that the Asian market was difficult.

“We have 2 or 3 things on the table right now, we always have...we’re looking at the Canadian and Brazilian market in addition to the Asian market, ” he added.

He said the target businesses had sales of $25 million (15 million pounds) and Brazil was particular focus given growth ahead of the Olympic Games and World Cup.

In the UK, which accounts for just five percent of the group’s business, the east-west commuter Crossrail project contracts could contribute up to 50 million pounds over the next 3 years, Atkinson said.