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Bam Construct has reported a 32% profit increase after maintaining its focus on core contracting work rather than diversifying into consultancy and maintenance.

In results released on Thursday, profit at the company was 拢17.1m for 2010, up from 拢13m in 2009, although revenue was down 8.6% to 拢1.04bn.

鈥淲e鈥檝e done extremely well in construction. Unlike other businesses, we鈥檙e not diversifying [beyond that],鈥� Graham Cash, Bam鈥檚 UK chief executive, said.

Other contractors - including Costain, which was repeatedly rebuffed in its attempts to buy consultant Mouchel over the past four months - have looked to expand into consultancy so they can offer more services to clients.

Five of Bam Construct鈥檚 six business divisions - design, construction, facilities management, plant and services engineering - made a profit, although in some cases the margin was negligible.

鈥淸Profit was] roughly 拢1m on facilities management. The other [profit figures] are quite small,鈥� said Cash.

However, he emphasised that keeping the divisions added value to the core construction business.

Property, however, was the one division that did make a loss, down 拢11.5m.

Turnover fell as the firm was hit by the axing of the 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future programme, leading to half of its BSF contracts being cancelled.