Clear progress for Velux profit

Window manufacturer Velux grew profits by more than 50 per cent last year after hiking its prices in response to exchange rate pressures.

The Fife-based firm, a subsidiary of Denmark’s Velux Group, made a pre-tax profit of £3.5 million in 2011, up from £2.2m the year before.

Turnover dipped 2.6 per cent to £108m.

Its earnings, which stood at more than £4m in 2009, have been hit in recent years by the downturn in the construction sector, and the firm was forced to make redundancies as it scaled back operations.

However, last year its average headcount rose from 152 to 167.

The company, which sells its trademark roof windows to the UK and Ireland from its site in Glenrothes, said the exchange rate between the pound and the euro obliged it to hike prices in February 2011.