The profit comes despite a one-off charge of £3.9m million for the float as the company made a pre-tax profit of £2.1m on a revenue of £161m for the six months to March 31 2015.

Company founder Steve Rawlings is currently trying to raise £400,000 from the industry for his training charity Building Lives.

The Essex based contractor now employs 1,350 staff and operates from 22 regional offices.

Lakehouse recorded a strong performance at its construction division with revenue up 42% to £36.7m making a margin of 5.1%.

The company said: “Construction has a strong pipeline, allowing us to continue to be selective about the opportunities we bid for during the second half.

“We will also benefit from our new strategic clients and the potential for expansion in the East of England.”

Employees have also benefited from the float and are set to be given more cash.

Lakehouse said: “Giving our people a sense of ownership of our business is a key part of our culture and we reinforced this at the time of our IPO when we gifted every employee £200 worth of shares.”