ENERGY Assets, the Livingston-based gas meter specialist, said the outlook for its business was increasingly positive after the company achieved good growth in the latest financial year.

The company said results for the year ended March 31 would be in line with its board's expectations following what chief executive Phil Bellamy-Lee described as "another year of excellent growth".

The number of meters owned by Energy Assets installed at clients' facilities increased by around 25% annually, to about 101,000 at March 31 from 81,000 a year previously.

The company had been appointed to collect information from 62,500 meters on behalf of customers at March 31, some 19% more than the 52,500 it handled at the end of the preceding year.

House broker Numis Securities expects Energy Assets to achieve pre-tax profit of £6.6m for the year to March, up from £3.9m in the preceding 12 months.

The company appears to be benefiting from regulatory changes intended to help reduce power consumption and associated carbon emmissions, which are fuelling demand for smart meters.

Shares in the company closed up 0.5p at 321.5p yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of around £88m.

That compared with the valuation of £57m Energy Assets achieved in March 2012, when it became the first Scottish company to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange for five years.

Earlier this month Edinburgh-based Exova raised £110m in a main market flotation that valued the metal testing firm at around £550m.