Shares in engineering group Monadelphous climbed more than nine per cent after the company posted a strong rise in its first half profit.

Monadelphous defied the weakness in the mining services sector to lift its net profit 10 per cent to $87.1 million during the six months to December 31.

The company experienced a one per cent slide in sales revenue to $1.277 billion during the half, but this was offset by more than $34 million in annualised cost savings.

But Monadelphous said it expects to record a 10 per cent drop in sales over the full year.

Monadelphous announced a fully franked interim dividend of 60 cents per share, down from 62 cents a year ago.

Shares in Monadelphous lifted $1.51 to $17.10.