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Keltbray鈥檚 pre-tax profit soared by 126% last year, while revenue jumped by more than a third.

The specialist contractor posted a pre-tax profit of 拢23.4m in its latest full year results, up from 拢10.4m for the previous year.

Revenue increased by 36% to 拢369m for the year ended 31 October 2016, up from 拢272m.

Keltbray said it experienced 鈥渂etter than anticipated鈥� growth in 2016, but new orders in the commercial sector reduced at the end of the year.

Cheif executive Brendan Kerr said: 鈥淲hile enquiries started to slow down towards the end of the year and the impact of Brexit remains uncertain, we do expect turnover to increase further in 2017, albeit at a slower pace.

鈥淭he outlook across the group is encouraging and last year we invested more than 拢15m in new demolition, piling, rail and structures plant with improved safety features to position ourselves for further growth.鈥�

Keltbray admitted the outlook for 2018 was 鈥渟omewhat uncertain鈥� due to Brexit and the potential impact in London.

To combat this the group鈥檚 board have been developing growth areas outside of the capital鈥檚 commercial market.

Despite the Brexit factor and London slowdown the group said it had a 鈥渟atisfactory鈥� workload and was 鈥渘ot falling dramatically鈥� in the commercial and residential sectors.

It also revealed it was targeting work on the government鈥檚 raft of large infrastructure projects.

Keltbray鈥檚 demolition and piling business had 鈥渟trong鈥� growth last year as it increased its market share in the residential and commercial sectors, with turnover for the business increasing to 拢248m for the year, up from 拢202m in 2015.

During the year, the specialist contractor launched a new concrete business, after buying some assets from Dunne Group when the firm went into administration last summer. This included Dunne鈥檚 former yard and head office at Bathgate in Scotland, along with equipment used for the construction of reinforced concrete structures.

The firm鈥檚 rail business, which was impacted by Network Rail鈥檚 pause in its major electrification plans in 2015, saw its revenue increase by 85% in 2016 to 拢100m, up from 拢54.2m in 2015. However, Keltbray flagged that margins continued to be challenging in the rail business with the client 鈥渦nder significant budgetary pressures鈥�.

The outlook for the business is positive so long as Network Rail does not reduce its spending in CP6 and there is no restructuring or reorganisations which could further delay capital project spending, Keltbray said.

The firm, which directly employs 1,300 people, also confirmed that it had now completed all the contracts involved with its waste-to-golf course business and had closed the business, as it reported it would be doing last May.