Pre-tax profit at UK piling contractor Roger Bullivant has increased 45% from 拢2.3m to 拢3.4m, but the company warned that the credit crunch had started to take its toll.

Turnover in the year to 28 October 2007 was also up 鈥� from 拢112.6m to 拢127.9m.

The company said: 鈥淩ecently the company has felt the effects of the current downturn in the economy, which appears to have especially hit the construction industry.鈥�

Kevin Cammack, an analyst at Kaupthing, said it was a bad sign for the rest of the industry.

He said: 鈥淭his is a more poignant observation, since piling work is essentially at the very front end of the construction work cycle 鈥� in short the best early warning mechanism.鈥�

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