A COMPANY making components for construction machinery has reported a 100 per cent increase in turnover.

Berco UK, based in Spennymoor, County Durham, said its turnover had risen to £15m in the 12 months to September 2010, up from £7.5m the previous year.

It comes at the end of a year in which the manufacturer of undercarriage systems and components for tracked construction machinery saw production rise more than fivefold from the worst trough of the recession.

As a result, the company invested more than £65m in a second assembly line, which became operational in February, and staff numbers have risen from 20 to 33.

It follows a resurgence in work from customers such as JCB and Komatsu, as well as contracts with new customers, including assembly work for a client in Italy.

Berco UK managing director Andrew Cornforth said: “We have built steadily out of the slump which hit our industry in early 2009, and our production output and employee levels rising so dramatically are testament to that.

“In the middle of 2009, we were producing about 150 units per month, compared with almost 800 in November 2010, which is growth in excess of 400 per cent.