Henry Boot Construction has reported a 40% rise in profits in its results for the year ended 31 December 2017.

With profit before tax increasing to £55.4 million (2016: £39.5m), revenue also increased 33% to £408.5m (2016: £306.8m) while the firm stated 2018 "with the healthiest order book seen in recent years".

Chairman Jamie Boot said 2017 delivered a record financial performance for the company, "primarily due to development schemes being delivered more quickly than we initially anticipated".

"As a result, profit before tax and earnings per share increased by 40% and 49% respectively, and we were able to more than replenish our portfolio of future opportunities during the year," he said.

"Notwithstanding any potential impact from the decision to leave the EU, our business model and strategic aims remain unchanged, and 2018 has started well across all our business streams."

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With revenue now more than double that achieved in 2015, key projects for Henry Boot include the new Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, the residential conversion of the former Terry's Chocolate Factory and the extension of our Markham Vale industrial scheme.

Mr Boot said: "We also sold 15 strategic land sites, delivered over £60m of construction work, £17m of plant hire sales and almost £25m of new house sales through our joint venture house builder, Stonebridge Homes.

"We were also successful in adding future opportunities into the Group's divisions, with the estimated value of the longer term, commercial development scheme pipeline now exceeding £1.0bn for the first time. Our strategic land acreage increased by over 10% to more than 13,000 acres, after taking account of the acreage sold during the year.

"We also added some 2,200 plots to our inventory of plots to sell, having obtained planning permission on some 4,500 plots during the year. The scale and number of these sites and schemes, held as inventory, are once again at record levels, giving us confidence that we can continue to deliver sustainable returns to our stakeholders well into the future."

Continuing, Mr Boot said the company has made a good start to the 2018 financial year, having already concluded a number of land sales.

"In addition, we have a strong pipeline of construction work, commercial development projects and strategic land sites working through the marketing process, on which to capitalise through the year," he said.

"Our focus consequently continues to be on the profitable delivery of these schemes and the value they will create for all our stakeholders. I look forward to reporting on our success in doing this through 2018 and beyond."

(LM)