GAS meter specialist Energy Assets has recorded a 52.6% rise in pre-tax profit to £2.9 million in its maiden results as a listed company.

The performance for the year to March 31 was at the top end of the range signalled by the Livingston-based company in its prospectus for the flotation.

The results were revealed as chief executive Phil Bellamy-Lee predicted high energy prices could drive more firms to take up its products.

After taking account of £3.3m of expenses relating to the March listing, the company posted pre-tax earnings of £200,000, down from £2.4m in 2011.

Revenues at the company rose 32% to a record £12.7m of which 65%, an increase of 10 percentage points, was recurring income, a closely-watched metric for investors.

Energy Assets installs around 17,000 meters a year, mostly to replace new meters.

The company targets its products at both energy companies and individual companies, seeking to persuade them that more accurate meter reading and additional data about energy use can help their operations.

Mr Bellamy-Lee said: "If energy prices are going to continue to rise, people are going to look even more at where they can save.

"One of the drivers for the end consumer is the ethics as well, it is about being seen to be green."

It is also positioned to benefit from a Government-backed drive to completely replace the UK's stock of electricity and gas meters over the next few years.

As the first Scottish headquartered firm to list on the main market of the London Stock Exchange for nearly five years, Energy Asset's performance will be closely scrutinised.

The fundraising handed the company a net £11.7m and allowed Australian investment bank Macquarie Group, which bought it in 2006, to sell down its stake to 47%.

Energy Assets now has a £30m war chest, combining cash and headroom on its bank facility, to continue to expand.

Last year the seven-year-old company saw its stock of meters increase 34% to 63,000 and also saw substantial growth at its division that installs and manages data loggers and a third that helps connect new buildings to the gas network.

Around 48,000 of its meters are with its core industrial and commercial customer base while 15,000 are domestic.

Some 21,000 of these meters are connected to data loggers, up 40% on the 15,000 using these a year ago. A major driver of take-up of new meters is a 2014 deadline for large industrial and commercial users to move to advanced meters.

It is intended that all UK customers, both commercial and domestic, will move to advanced meters by December 2019.

Mr Bellamy-Lee said: "There is a window of opportunity."

But it is seeing some headwinds, such as restrictions on local government spending causing delays to take-up of its data logging facility.

Energy Assets employs 62 people, including around 40 at its head office in Livingston but uses sub-contractors for on-site installation.

Energy Assets' shares closed up 1p at 191p. This compares to its offer price of 210p a share.