TROUBLED British construction group Costain is set to cast off the last of its major non core businesses, as the sales of its property interests and US coal division were approved at an extraordinary general meeting.

American mining company Renco will now buy the coal operations for around £20.7 million sterling. In a separate move, Costain's one third stake in the Spitalfields property development in London will go to Malaysian firm Metacorp for £23.4 million.

The chairman, Sir Christopher Benson, who announced his decision to leave the London based firm two weeks ago, said the sales represented the "last major step" towards the group's aim of returning to its mainstream engineering and construction businesses.