However, the company reported a fall in revenue during the six-month period, raking in $3.1 billion compared to $3.5 billion for the same six-month period last year.

'We achieved good results in the second quarter of 2009, despite a disappointing performance in the Chemicals & Petroleum segment; our backlog increased and our year-to-date results are in line with our expected net income growth for 2009,'' Pierre Duhaime, president and CEO, said in a statement at the weekend.

'We continue to expect a net income growth of 7% to 12% in 2009, in line with our long-term financial objective,'' he said.

Just last month, SNC-Lavalin had won one of the largest contracts of $508 million to build a brand-new city in the north African nation Algeria.

(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh.s@ians.in)