A STEEL contractor aims to ramp up profit doubling plans by extending its European presence.

Severfield says it wants to replicate UK successes across the continent after stellar contracts on Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium and Wimbledon’s No 1 Court delivered a boost.

Bosses have now appointed a Netherlands-based business development director to oversee the expansion.

They added the move will add further ballast to the company’s long-held ambition of doubling pre-tax profit to £26m by 2020.

Confirmation of Severfield’s intentions came as the business revealed its financial results for the year to March 31 yesterday, which showed underlying pre-tax profit was up 50 per cent to £19.8m on the back of revenues rising ten per cent to £262.2m.

The firm, based at Dalton Airfield Industrial Estate, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, benefited from a number of high-profile contracts in those 12 months, with deals each worth in excess of £20m to provide steelwork for Tottenham’s new 61,000-seat stadium and a roof for Wimbledon’s No 1 Court standout projects.

Alan Dunsmore, acting chief executive, said such lucrative schemes, a steady domestic market and rising steel prices provide confidence and a gateway to grow across Europe, which, in turn, should help make its profit target a reality.

Mr Dunsmore also reiterated the ambitions of Ian Lawson, for whom he is deputising, who last year told The Northern Echo that Severfield could play a significant role in HS2 and Heathrow’s new runway expansion, having already previously worked on the latter aviation site.

He said: “Notwithstanding a reduction in new construction orders over the past few months and the impact of the General Election, the market appears to be remaining stable.

"We have identified a number of significant projects across the commercial office, retail, industrial and distribution and infrastructure sectors.

“Our bridge team places us in a strong position for HS2 and our record in transport, in railway stations and airports, and Heathrow in particular, enables us to feel confident about the potential for involvement in these projects.”

“Last year we introduced a target to double 2016 profit before tax to £26m over four years and are making good progress towards achieving this.

“After undertaking research into continental Europe, we have employed a business development director, who will focus on tailoring our established UK offering for expansion into this market.”

Mr Dunsmore added the business’ UK order book was down from the £315m recorded in November to £229m at the start of June, though he played down the dip, saying it reflected a return to normality.

He said: “While the book has reduced, the strong and good quality order inflow during 2017 will continue to support improving performance in the current financial year.

“Our normal order book levels typically equate to eight to ten months of annualised revenue so while, as expected, the book has come off its peak, it remains at a level that supports good progress towards our targets.”

Severfield’s UK division previously supplied steelwork for London’s 2012 Olympic Games Stadium and The Shard skyscraper.