Craig Jones, chief executive of Verry Construction, has accused firms of buying public sector work to combat the recession

Speaking after the company announced its results for the 18 months to 30 June 2008, he said new entrants to public sector markets were pricing jobs 鈥渧ery aggressively鈥�.

鈥淭hese companies don鈥檛 have any heritage or experience and some of the work simply can鈥檛 be done for the prices they are quoting,鈥� he said.

Turnover at Verry was 拢118m over the 18-month period, compared with 拢106m in the preceding 12 months. It climbed out of the red to record a pre-tax profit of 拢251,836.

Despite ending the year with net debt of 拢5.9m, Jones said the company had strong order book visibility into 2011. 鈥淲e鈥檙e carrying over 拢112m into 2009/10 and about 拢100m into 2010/11,鈥� he said.

He added: 鈥淭he decision I took two years ago to future-proof the business by focusing on public sector work is paying off.鈥�

About 80% of its turnover comes from the public sector and Jones said the ratio between public and private wouldn鈥檛 change. 鈥淲e still want to do the niche specialist jobs like the Stirling prize-winning Young Vic theatre.鈥�

He was upbeat about 2009 but said his optimism was 鈥渢empered by the wider liquidity and credit situation鈥�.

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