Consultant Arup more than doubled its profit for the year to 31 March 2001.
Pre-tax profit rose from £4.9m for the same period in 2000 to £10.0m last year, according to the firm's latest accounts.

Turnover rose from £2.79bn for the year to 31 March 2000 to £319.61m for the same period last year.

Arup's earnings after tax were £5.2m compared with £2.7m in 2000, but the directors decided not to pay a dividend to shareholders.

Staff numbers over the period grew from 4734 to 5000, pushing up costs from £168.2m to £190.05m.

The reports also revealed that the UK accounted for 53% of turnover and 48% of profit, and Asia provided 27% and 25% of turnover and profit respectively.

Arup also has operations in Australia, Europe and Africa.