The man in charge of one of the country�s leading suppliers of equipment to builders said he saw no prospect of an upturn this year and warned that the construction industry might not return to the levels of activity seen during the boom for years.

The man in charge of one of the country's leading suppliers of equipment to builders said he saw no prospect of an upturn this year and warned that the construction industry might not return to the levels of activity seen during the boom for years.

Steve Bryant, who owns the Glasgow-headquartered Scot JCB Holdings, said with many of the group's customers currently quiet he did not expect business to pick up before spring of next year. While survey data has suggested that the construction industry may have gone through the worst of the downturn, Bryant said he was braced for a sharp fall in sales at the firm in 2009. Scot JCB has franchises to sell construction equipment and air compressors for big names like JCB, Atlas Copco and CompAir.

The group achieved strong growth in sales during the housing market boom.

In a sign of changed times, Bryant said he expected to see turnover fall for the second year running in 2009.

Accounts filed at Companies House and obtained by The Herald show that in 2008, sales fell by 11% to £80m.

Bryant is sober about the longer term outlook.

"I don't think that we are going to see a return to the previous highs. Those days have gone for a while."

However, he is confident that Scot JCB will cope well with the tougher conditions.

The company is looking to move into new markets and has taken steps to reduce costs. These resulted in around 20 of its 230 employees being made redundant.

"The business is in very good shape," said Bryant. "We are confident that there will certainly be profits. Not at the level that they were but they will be reasonable."

Scot JCB achieved pre-tax profits of £2.8m in 2008. This was down 18% on the previous year but was a notable result in view of the dramatic slowdown in the economy in the second half of last year.

After celebrating the 10th anniversary of the £5m management buyout of Scot JCB from Hewden Stuart last year, Bryant confirmed he had not lost any of his enthusiasm.

Asked if he had any plans to sell the firm he said: "No I love it too much."