South-west contractor Midas Group has doubled its annual pre-tax profit to 拢860 000.

Turnover for the year to 30 April stood at 拢71m. Midas, which claims to be one of the fastest-growing construction firms in the region, hopes to make 拢5m profit by 2004.

Chief executive Steve Hindley attributed the company鈥檚 performance to its relationship with clients. Hindley said: 鈥淲ith more than 50% of our turnover secured through negotiation, it鈥檚 our relationship with our customers that is paramount. If you can get that right, everything else follows.鈥

This year鈥檚 performance has been helped by strong performance from the construction division, which delivered contracts worth more than 拢24m. Customers include supermarket groups Tesco, Waitrose and Safeway and catering firm Compass Group. Major projects included a fit-out of leisure facilities at Cardiff鈥檚 Millennium Stadium.

Midas Group was created in 1998, after a management buy-in of Midas Construction led by Hindley, formerly Mowlem managing director.