Three things have impressed me about Carillion. First, its clear strategy. At demerger, Carillion set out key strategic objectives for generating a growing stream of more visible and predictable earnings, through:• developing services businesses in the growth markets of PFI, Infrastructure Management and Facilities Management.• being selective in construction, targeting projects that require its specialist skills and resources and where risk can be minimised.• developing and marketing integrated solutions, where construction and services skills can be combined to provide long-term property management and support services for which there is a large and growing market in both the public and private sectors.

Second, its strong values. These are encapsulated in its vision to be a construction to services company renowned for working in a spirit of openness, collaboration and mutual dependency to deliver solutions that ensure that our customers' success becomes our success. Words, of course, are easy, but what has really impressed me is the way that people in Carillion are genuinely embracing this new approach, away from the adversarial models that have characterised this industry in the past. This approach is also demonstrating what can be achieved if you really believe in empowering people - employees and partners - to find innovative solutions that meet and exceed our customers' needs, while being environmentally and socially responsible in everything we do. In that context, it is important to note that Carillion is playing a leading role in the initiatives underway to improve health and safety performance across the industry. We were delighted last week, when, for the second time in three years, the Construction Minister, Nick Raynsford, presented Carillion with the award for being the UK's "Most Considerate Contractor", which was not just about being nice to our customers and others affected by our work, but a hard measure of our performance. This follows a similar award to Carillion Building earlier in the year, when it was voted UK Major Contractor of the Year, an award based not only on customer satisfaction, but also on efficiency and financial performance.In the industry I've come from, a company succeeds only if it lives its values through its people. I intend to ensure that Carillion "walks the talk" to the benefit of all our stakeholders - shareholders, customers, suppliers and our employees.