Ogilvie Group has revealed it is “actively looking at further business acquisitions” as it reported an “excellent” 21 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £4.9 million.

In accounts filed at Companies House for the year to end June 2015, the Stirling-based construction firm increased turnover by 6 per cent to £209m adding that it was well placed for future growth.

“All in all, we are very confident in our outlook for 2016 and indeed we are actively looking at further business acquisitions that would fit with our future growth plans,” chief executive Duncan Ogilvie told The Herald.

The company said its fleet contract hire and finance business, Ogilvie Fleet, continued to grow its client base throughout the UK and Northern Ireland and had recently recruited sales staff in the south of England. Large increases in funding lines had allowed the fleet size to grow by more than 12 per cent to over 13,000 vehicles, consolidating its position as a top 20 UK vehicle contract hire company.

“Tight controls on vehicle maintenance costs, well-managed vehicle disposals coupled with a sustained buoyant used car and van market and savings on finance costs have helped underpin this year’s performance,” the directors said.

Ogilvie Construction, which has building contracts in the public and private sector, saw its results improve on last year in terms of both turnover and profit.

“The directors consider this performance to be strong given the underlying difficult trading conditions being experienced by businesses coming out of recession,” added the company, which employs more than 450 people at its Stirling head office and divisional offices in Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, Swansea and London.

“Our spread of delivery capability across a wide range of sectors together with our geographic Scottish footprint and continued focus on operational efficiency leaves us well placed to capitalise on opportunities going forward. We are confident that we will continue our path of controlled growth.”

The group’s housebuilder, Ogilvie Homes, has seen a steady improvement in the residential market with customer confidence returning. The continuation of Scotland’s version of Help to Buy, the government-backed scheme to help buyers fund deposits, has been instrumental in the recovery of the sector.

“Sales prices are firmer are there is much less dependence on various developer-funded incentive schemes such as part-exchange and shared equity, which in turn improves the out-turn margin,” the company said.

Ogilvie Communications, which provides telecoms and IT services, reported a disappointing loss for the second consecutive year. As a result, the sales and technical departments have been restructured, with new sales and technical directors recruited to provide much needed ‘stability and experience.’ Going forward, the business will be more focused on selling IT and security solutions.

Ogilvie Geomatics, the group’s surveying business, recently expanded with the acquisition of Swansea-based Longdin and Browning and continues to expand through its three offices in Renfrew, Swansea and Milton Keynes. It now employs more than 40 fee-earning surveyors covering topographical, utility and measured building surveys. The directors consider these results to be ‘satisfactory’ in a market which continues to show signs of recovery.

Since the year-end, the group’s overall performance has continued positively, Mr Ogilvie said, with the fleet and construction divisions in particular continuing to deliver further improving business growth.

“We’re refocusing efforts in a number of areas across our communications and internet defence business and are pleased with the progress being made by our new directors and their teams, especially in the development of business in the cyber security sector,” Mr Ogilvie added. “We expect to further increase the number of people employed in that division as such positive progress continues.”