The contractor formerly known as Montpellier has turned last year's £20m loss into a profit

Renew Holdings strategy of focusing on specialist construction and engineering markets has paid off with the contractor reporting a near three-fold increase in pre-tax profit to £4.6m.

Renew, which previously traded under the name Montpellier, generated an operating profit of £3.4m for the year to 30 September, up from last year’s loss of £20m.

Brian May chief executive told Building that the company had stabilised and was making good progress.

“Our strategy now is to improve margins which we will do through selecting projects which best suit our skills.”

In 2004 Montpellier was forced to restructure following a £6.9m which was a result of mis-pricing contracts. Since then the company has focused on specialist work such as land remediation, social housing and science and education.

May did not rule out acquisitions but said they would be in the engineering sector rather than construction.

Turnover was up to £341m from £330m last year.