AFTER suffering the worst three years in its history, a Bolton construction industry recruitment agency is back on track and working towards its best-ever turnover.

The recession hit almost immediately after Bromak won an award in the 2007 Bolton and Bury Business Awards, with employment in building dropping massively.

Managing director David Brooks said: “We went from winning the award and having 40 staff in six offices to having just 18 staff in two offices.”

But now, the company is back to its previous £7 million turnover but with fewer staff and offices.

It anticipates that turnover will reach £9 million in the next year and, ideally, the company wants to hit a £12 million turnover by 2012-13, with 40 to 45 staff.

Mr Brooks is determined the new, leaner company will become the bestknown name in construction recruitment.

He said: A lot of our profit came from permanent recruitment in the construction industry but since that fell off a cliff face we have had to rely on the temporary recruitment market which has lower margins.

“The bad times meant that in 2008/9 we just broke even and 2009/10 we made a small profit and in 2010/11 we will have the benefits of lower overheads.” As part of the new image, the 20 Bolton staff have moved into a new purposedesigned modern suite of offices at The Atria in Spa Road.

The company also has 10 staff in offices in Yorkshire and the Midlands. Last year Mr Brooks bought out his business partner.

He said: “We have a strong client base and I have developed the company to have a broader range of clients.

“We are still aimed at construction but we have concentrated on increasing sales and getting our name known by attending more networking events.” Now Mr Brooks wants to concentrate on making Bromak number one in the sector by grabbing more of the market share.

The company has a database of 60,000 approved candidates in the North West and has developed good links with JobCentres.