Shareholders of building company G&T Crampton received dividends of €13 million in 2006 after the firm's pre-tax profits increased five-fold to €25.5 million, according to company accounts just filed.

The increase in the company's profits was due to a profit of €15.8 million made on the sale of an investment property and operating profit more than doubling to €9 million.

Brothers George and Philip Crampton, together with their father, own 90.7 per cent of the company's shares. A number of senior managers also own shares.

Turnover at G&T Crampton (Holdings) increased by 22 per cent to €241.9 million in 2006. The company had shareholders' funds of €54.2 million at the end of 2006, up from €51.1 million the previous year.

Philip Crampton, joint managing director, said he expected turnover to be roughly the same this year, but said it would be difficult to predict how the construction market would perform in 2008.

"It is hard to say. The residential market has certainly slowed down," he said.

The company's business is split equally between residential and commercial construction. Mr Crampton said there were slightly fewer contractors on its sites, although overall staff numbers remained static at around 300.

The company's largest construction project in 2006 was the Charlestown shopping centre in Finglas, north Dublin, where the anchor tenant is Dunnes Stores.

The company's directors state in the accounts that the main risk for the group is "the upward trend in materials and labour-cost inflation". Staff costs increased from €17.9 million to €18.4 million in 2006, while directors' emoluments rose from €2.8 million to €4.3 million.