Preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2016 revealed a 101 per cent rise in operating profit to £112.5 million to which the group attributed a strong performance in its facilities management arm.

The FTSE 250 company said it had no major contract rebids until 2019 following a successful period of retentions and extensions and recent new contracts would help it return to revenue growth in 2016/17.

Revenue in 2015/16, which fell 1.8 per cent to £2.2 billion, took a hit from lower discretionary and project spending, as well as some delayed starts on new contracts.

It said its sales line-up was buoyant at £9.1bn versus £9.7bn in 2014/15 and its order book was still strong at £8.5bn, although that was down from £9bn beforehand.

Mitie employs about 62,000 people across the United Kingdom and Europe, of which more than 7,000 are based in Scotland.

The group works with many well-known businesses and brands in Scotland, including the Scottish Government and Standard Life Investments.

In this period Mitie was awarded and retained contracts operating in Scotland which include:

Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE, chief executive of Mitie, said: “Mitie has had a good year, with strong margins and profits. I am delighted that the dividend is increasing for the 27th consecutive year.

“We are a pure services business with a strong position in our chosen markets. We operate long-term contracts for a blue chip client base and are well diversified across the private and public sectors.

“Our business model is flexible, resilient, low risk and has proven to be responsive to client needs and market conditions over three decades.

“We continue to see a range of good outsourcing opportunities across our key markets and anticipate modest growth in the coming year. We remain positive about the group’s prospects for the future.”