With pre-tax profits up 10% at £60.6m on turnover of £431.3m (up 6%) the Chairman of Davis Service Group declared himself pleased with the company's results: "Our record trading performance in 1999 was achieved against a background of variable market conditions. With a more positive trading climate and the benefit of various initiatives (see below) the directors expect they will be able to report on another year of good progress for the group."

The Davis Service Group has two main areas of business: textile maintenance (including the Sunlight and Spring Grove companies) and site services, comprising HSS Hire Services Group and Elliott Group, which produces modular buildings for hire or sale.

In April Sunlight is due to open a new specialised processing plant for surgical procedure packs at Shrewsbury, doubling capacity to service a growing market and ensuring compliance with new European standards.

HSS improved the quality and location of its outlets, developed the operation in Germany and the USA and introduced three new services covering repair, maintenance and testing; central sourcing for account customers and safety equipment.

The Elliott Group continued to concentrate on the education, mobile telecommunications and selected industrial markets. The company also added to its product portfolio with the purchase of Strumech, a specialised engineering company.

Richard Byatt