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

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

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

This year’s performance has been helped by strong performance from the construction division, which delivered contracts worth more than £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’s Millennium Stadium.

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