Privately-owned contractor Wrekin has returned to profitability after a restructure cut overheads by £1m.
The group, based in Shropshire, began the process a year ago after posting losses of £1.12m for the six months to 30 June 2001 and full-year losses of £880,000.

Figures for the first six months of this year show that Wrekin made a pre-tax profit of £686,000 and turnover rose from £37.55m to £51.26m.

Managing director John Evans, who carried out the restructure after taking over last June, said the group was on course to make a pre-tax profit of £2.5m for the full year on turnover of about £100m. He said 25 senior staff had been made redundant.

Apart from cutting overheads the restructure was designed to cut paperwork and focus managers on generating profit and chasing bigger contracts. The firm's average contract size has increased from £1m to £2.25m.

Evans said: "We use the same amount of site staff on a £5m job as a £10m contract. Our strategy this time last year was not to go bankrupt. Now we want to grow the business."

Evans added that the acquisition of cable contractor Filcom had fitted in well with existing operations. It already has long-term contracts with BT.