Keith Miller consolidated his status as one of Scotland's best paid executives last year although the eponymous building group that he runs suffered the first fall in profits for 12 years after falling victim to the sharp downturn in the housing market.

Keith Miller consolidated his status as one of Scotland's best paid executives last year although the eponymous building group that he runs suffered the first fall in profits for 12 years after falling victim to the sharp downturn in the housing market.

Accounts for the Edinburgh-based Miller Group filed at Companies House show the highest paid director, assumed to be chief executive Keith Miller, saw his total remuneration rise 3%, to £2.44m, from £2.3m in 2006.

Thanks to a holding of around 16% of Miller Group's shares, Miller was also entitled to receive dividends of £1.8m, up from £1.7m in 2006. The group increased the total dividends paid by 10%, to 58.4p a share.

Miller's stake in the group has helped make him one of Scotland's richest people.

With an accrued annual pension of £276,000 at the year-end, up from £262,000, the 59-year-old could enjoy a comfortable retirement without having to touch his savings should he tire of the pressures of running the UK's biggest privately-owned housebuilder.

Used to being feted as one of Scotland's most successful entrepreneurs, over the past year Miller has found his actions coming under the spotlight for less welcome reasons.

In April Miller Group confirmed that pre-tax profits in 2007 fell by 7% to £81.2m, following a slowdown in sales at the key housing unit.

Like many rivals, the housebuilding division suffered from a dramatic change in trading conditions in the second half, as the credit crunch left increasing numbers of people unable to get mortgages resulting in a sharp fall in the number of reservations compared with 2006. In April, Miller said it was facing its most difficult trading conditions in 10 years.

Miller also found himself embroiled in a public upset involving dissident shareholders who had wanted to cash in their holdings to make the most of the long boom in housing markets.

This was only resolved in April when Bank of Scotland bought a stake in the group, allowing dissidents to be bought out.

While the group expects 2008 to be challenging, in his chief executive's review Miller said the future of the business was bright.

A Miller spokeswoman said: "The company's performance has been superb, with profit before tax having grown at a compound rate of 24% per annum."

She added: "Current trading is challenging in our housing and property businesses as per the general market trend, however, our construction and mining businesses are both performing well ahead of expectations. We are bidding for a very large construction contract in Qatar."