The firm said it expected to actively invest in the infrastructure of the group in the coming year, recruiting more talent, expanding the branch network and investing strongly in fleet.

During the year pre-tax profits jumped a third to £26.8m on revenues ahead by 12% at £205.6m.

This result exceeded, by a considerable margin, its previous best year in 2009 when the group reported profits of £21.7m.

Jeremy Pilkington, chairman of Vp, said: “It has been a record-breaking year for the group with significant progress made across all key metrics including profits, revenue, earnings per share and dividends.

“The economic environment in both the UK and globally is more positive than for some time and all group business divisions are identifying significant growth and investment opportunities for the near and long term future.”

“The board believes that Vp’s diverse business model coupled with an active pursuit of growth opportunities will help to continue to deliver quality returns for our shareholders.”

Looking ahead, he said: “We anticipate construction and housebuilding will carry on at similar levels, though we expect some recovery in transmission, balanced by a quieter year for the UK water sector as the new AMP6 programme enters its typically low spending first year.

“While there has been some recovery in the oil price since late 2014, we expect this market to continue to be tough but with opportunity.”

Rought terrain handling equipment division UK Forks made further substantial progress in the year with profits increasing by 62% to £4m. Increased demand was experienced from both the general construction and housebuilding sectors and as a result, revenues grew by 12% to £18.2m.

Excavation support and piling equipment specialist Groundforce increased profits to £8.9m (2014: £7.9 million) on revenues 5% ahead of prior year at £44.4m.

The Hire Station tools business delivered double digit revenue growth to £77m and nearly doubled operating profits to £8.7m.

New locations were opened in London to support growing activity and several provincial depots moved to larger premises.