By Guy Taylor Balfour Beatty’s profit fell in 2023 as the infrastructure giant flagged a “challenging” macroeconomic backdrop. Underlying pre-tax profit dipped year-on-year from £291m to £261m, while operating profit also came in lower, at £228m. The order book for the group, which has contracts to work on HS2’s Old Oak Common and London’s Picadilly Line, narrowed 5 per cent to £16.5bn. Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty’s chief executive, said Balfour’s resilience against a “challenging economic backdrop” was driven by “disciplined contract risk management across a geographically and operationally div…