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He said the building and engineering services group operates in sectors such as social housing and land remediation that have so far escaped the downturn.

He said: 鈥淭hey are all robust and have good visibility. We haven鈥檛 felt it at all and the figures reflect that.鈥�

May was speaking after the company posted a strong set of half-year figures to 31 March 2008 showing pre-tax profit grew 21% from 拢3.2m to 拢3.9m.

Turnover was up 11% from 拢173m to 拢192.9. This included a 74% contribution from the building division (拢143m) and a 24% slice from its engineering business (拢47.2m).

Kevin Cammack, an analyst at Kaupthing, described the results as 鈥渆xcellent鈥� and praised Renew鈥檚 lack of exposure to private housing and engineering work in attractive niches such as nuclear and water.

The firm鈥檚 operating margin grew from 1.3% to 1.6% and May said the target was to increase that to 2.5% by 2010 through greater selectivity of projects.

鈥淢argins in the engineering business are 4.6%, which is an optimum level. In the building division they will grow from 1.5% to 2% by ensuring a quality order book with long-term clients and avoiding the bear traps of problem jobs.鈥�

The group鈥檚 building arm operates in the retail sector with clients that include Tesco, and May did not rule out the possibility of a fall in work in the future. 鈥淲e鈥檙e conscious of what鈥檚 happening out there but we can only call it as we see it today.鈥�

He also expects more companies to 鈥渕uscle in鈥� on the group鈥檚 social housing patch as the downturn continues. He said: 鈥淭he fact we鈥檝e got long-standing relationships with clients means there will always be good opportunities for us.鈥�

The group is still targeting further acquisitions for its engineering business, particularly in the environmental sector, although May said no deal was imminent.