Connaught sales and profit boosted 50%

Connaught boosted turnover and pre-tax profit by 50% in the year to 31 August. Turnover was £159.4m, while profit improved from £3.3m to £5.1m.

A quarter of the profit improvement was organic, with the remainder from acquisitions. Earlier this year Conaught withdrew from the traditional fit-out market as margins had eroded substantially and future prospects were poor.

Social housing accounted for 58% of turnover, with private sector corporate services representing 25%. The GasForce division accounted for 17%.

Chairman Tim Ross said: "In just two years our social housing partnering order book has risen from £70m to £500m, including a number of significant contracts we have recently won. This market remains buoyant and we are currently bidding for contracts with a total value of £1bn."