* Says trading in line with expectations
* Total order book more than 15 bln sterling
* Awaiting detail to predict effect of govt spending cuts
* Shares up 0.5 percent
(Recasts lead, adds CEO, analyst comment, shares)
By Caroline Copley
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Balfour Beatty Plc, Britain's market leader in big-ticket construction projects, increased its order book in the third quarter, underscoring its resilience in a tough environment for the building sector.
"We continue to maintain the momentum of the business. The order book has continued to grow in the U.S. and the UK market as well," Chief Executive Ian Tyler told Reuters on Thursday.
Contract wins in the third quarter helped the FTSE 250 listed company increase its total order book to more than 15 billion pounds ($24 billion), as official figures pointed to activity growth in Britain's construction sector slowing down.
"In the UK there's definitely going to be continued spending on large infrastructure projects that are essential for the nation...so it's much better placed to weather the downturn than smaller regional contractors," said Fairfax analyst Mike Foster.
"It's performing well at the bottom of the cycle and although things are not turning up just yet we would be buying the larger stocks, the larger businesses ahead of an upturn." he said.
Shares in Balfour, which have climbed more than 11 percent since mid-September, traded up 0.5 percent at 1037 GMT.
SPENDING CUTS
Britain's biggest infrastructure contractor is less exposed to government spending cuts than many of its peers because it operates across a wide range of businesses and is well-placed to compete for big-ticket projects such as London's Crossrail.
Balfour Beatty said it was too early to predict the exact impact of the government's spending review on its business, but it hoped a shift towards outsourcing, as part of a cost-cutting drive, would boost its support service activities.
In the U.S, the group said spending on federal buildings had provided a good stream of work, but Tyler said it was unlikely there would be a real resurgence in the private property market for a number of years.
Analysts expect Balfour to report a full-year pretax profit of between 307 and 326 million pounds, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 7 brokers.
(Editing by Matt Scuffham and Andrew Callus) ($1=.6192 Pound)