STEEL firm Severfield will take on multi-million pound projects after moving back into profit over the first six months of this year.

The structural steel specialist, based at Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, is hiring skilled workers for landmark builds that will be even bigger than its £426m contract with The Shard, in London.

The company, which saw underlying operating profits rise from £3m to £3.6m in the first six months of 2014, has had a tumultuous few years and took a £20m hit after several loss-making contracts last February.

The biggest of these was the Cheesegrater tower, in London, which lost the steel firm £10m.

Ninety-three jobs were also axed from the company’s factories in Lancashire and Derbyshire in May 2013 due to restructuring.

But Ian Lawson, chief executive, said he was feeling buoyant about the industry after the interim results showed that while revenue was down by £19.7m, margins were up from 2.5 per cent in 2013 to 3.7 per cent this year.

The group’s UK order book also showed an increase in market activity. It stood at £185m on November 1, up from £168m in May, after more than 70 projects were worked on including the expansion of the Etihad Stadium for Manchester City and further manufacturing plants for Jaguar Land Rover.

Mr Lawson said: “We recently took on apprentices but we are also looking for more skilled workers for the shop floor including platers, welders and engineers with drawing capabilities. There is no chance of any job losses and we are definitely moving forward.

“We have been working with a number of sectors with bigger and better opportunities. These are very much existing sectors we have worked with before, but we are seeing them start to pickup.

“Our contracts have not been as large as they used to be mainly because that sort of contract is not out there. Instead, we have been taking on smaller projects and working in the £20m range. Having said that there are contracts starting to come through that are even bigger than The Shard and we will start to take them on.

“I feel buoyant about the industry if sufficient funds are pumped into it. There is a huge need for infrastructure improvements and there will also be HS2 and Crossrail 2, which should give us some huge opportunities.

“The group remains on course to deliver earnings for the full year in line with the board’s expectations.”