Groundwork and demolition specialist Keltbray has said it will be forced to lay off staff as medium-sized commercial jobs dry up

The group, which is carrying out enabling works on the Shard (pictured) and the Pinnacle towers in London, employs 492 people. It declined to reveal the extent of the proposed cuts, but if it follows the industry average of 10%, more than 50 people will lose their jobs.

Brendan Kerr, group managing director, said: 鈥淜eltbray is not immune from the turmoil in the financial markets and challenges remain, therefore we are looking at every section of the business to reduce overheads.鈥�

John Keehan, the firm鈥檚 finance director, blamed a lack of smaller jobs for the redundancies. He said: 鈥淭he main problem is the lack of medium-sized projects that are short duration and quick turnaround.鈥�

Despite the uncertain future, turnover at the company in the year to 31 October 2008 rose 19% from 拢108.7m to 拢129.5m. Pre-tax profit was up slightly from 拢3.34m to 拢3.36m.

Keehan said the reason profit had not risen more was owing to the investment made in new business sectors such as waste management and nuclear. He said: 鈥淲e are also still taking on people for the rail and London Underground markets.鈥�

The company is also looking to establish a piling operation, although Keehan said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not looking to compete with the likes of Keller but we would look to offer the service to complement what we do already.鈥�

Kerr said: 鈥淲e continue to further widen the foundation of our business both in terms of services and sectors, and remain optimistic our reputation for quality assurance will position us well when the economy eventually recovers.鈥�

Turnover next year is likely to fall to near the 拢100m mark as a result of the recession but Kerr said the key indicator of performance over the next two years would be the maintenance of profit margins.

The highest paid director took home 拢921,876, a 33% rise on the previous year鈥檚 figure of 拢692,989.

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