AYRSHIRE-based haulage and construction group Maxi has achieved record annual turnover and a leap in profits in “difficult” trading conditions.

Maxi has posted turnover of £73.9 million for the year to September 30, 2015, up by 16.4 per cent on the prior 12 months. Owner and chairman Gerry Atkinson noted the group’s construction subsidiary had won several high-value contracts during the financial year, which had boosted turnover.

The group, which is based in Irvine and employs about 350 people, raised pre-tax profits by 23.5 per cent to £2.1m in the year to September 30. The haulage business delivered most of the profits, with Maxi noting this operation had retained all major contracts which had come up for renewal during the period as well as winning “significant” new business.

Mr Atkinson highlighted the success of Maxi’s haulage business between mainland Britain and Ireland. Maxi has significant operations in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It has an office in Dublin.

Much of the cross-Irish Sea business is food and drink transport, for the likes of supermarkets, Mr Atkinson noted. He also highlighted the specialist nature of some of the company’s haulage operations, including the transport of heavy items such as cables and commercial vehicle delivery work.

Mr Atkinson said: “On the haulage side, the recession created opportunities. We expanded through the recession but with tight [profit] margins. We have still got tight margins – our customers get a very good deal. We are working on improving margins.”

Maxi Haulage, which operates about 160 trucks and has around 600 trailers, posted a 14.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £1.62m on the back of a seven per cent increase in turnover to £55.9m.

Mr Atkinson highlighted the fact that the construction division undertook a lot of work for local authorities, including school projects. It also builds the likes of fire and ambulance stations.

He noted that public sector contracts had made up a lot of Maxi’s work during the recession.

Maxi Construction also builds warehouses, shops, and offices.

Mr Atkinson noted that contracts worth between £1m and £2m tended to be the “bread and butter” work of the construction business. He noted that Maxi Construction did jobs with a value of up to £5m, and had won two contracts worth about £200,000 each this week.

Maxi Construction achieved a 55 per cent jump in turnover to £17.7m in the year to September 30, and raised its pre-tax profits by 31 per cent to about £415,000.

It flagged strong levels of repeat business, attributing this to “the highest levels of safety, service, and quality”. Mr Atkinson underlined Maxi Construction’s strict policy of only taking on economic work.

Maxi Construction provides work for significant numbers of tradespeople in its construction business, sub-contracting electrical, plumbing and plastering work and some joinery activities.

Mr Atkinson meanwhile highlighted Maxi’s success in winning several prestigious contracts, including the rebuilding of the Botanic Cottage in Edinburgh, which was originally located in Leith Walk, the refurbishment of Glasgow Women’s Library, and the construction of the Kelpies visitor centre in Falkirk.

He noted that Maxi had been the main contractor on all of these jobs.

Mr Atkinson said: “If you take construction, during the recession we cut right back. That is all you can do. You can’t compete with people who are losing money [on contracts]. We are through the recession now, and turnover is back up to pre-recession levels.”

Mr Atkinson noted that Maxi had, as a group, been making better profits before the recession.

But he added: “Under the trading circumstances, I am more than happy with the result. I would obviously like to see better profits but wouldn’t we all? The main thing is we are retaining customers and we are developing and we have a solid balance sheet, [with] no borrowings, and plenty of money to invest in new work when it comes along.”

Mr Atkinson said turnover was up again in the haulage business in the current financial year. He said the construction business was "trading away nicely", although its turnover was down given the high-value contracts in the year to last September.