The business, created after private equity firm EMK Capital acquired Keltbray’s infrastructure arm in August 2024, lifted turnover 15% to £367m in the year to October 2025.

But that growth has yet to translate into returns, with statutory pre-tax profit edging down 6% to £3.2m from £3.4m.

The flat performance comes despite a marked reduction in exceptional losses, which fell to £6.7m from £11.6m as the group moves beyond its initial carve-out and restructuring phase.

Underlying profitability also weakened, with pre-tax profit down 34% to £9.9m from £15m as overheads increased to support expansion.

Margins tightened across the business, slipping to 3.0% from 4.4% the previous year.

A key pressure point was a rapid build-up in staffing as Aureos scaled its infrastructure services platform.

Total headcount rose by 263 to 1,543 — a 20% increase — driven mainly by a surge in office-based roles to 567 from 324, while direct labour saw only modest growth to 976 from 956.

The staffing increase was partly driven by a series of bolt-on acquisitions aimed at strengthening capability across the infrastructure lifecycle.

These included powerline contractor GA Construction (Highlands), consultancy firm Energyline, digital platform Helix Workflo and engineering consultancy AS Design & Engineering.

While the deals expand Aureos’ reach across electricity networks, design and digital delivery, they have also added integration costs and further pressure on overheads in the short term.