The company behind the delivery of the National Car Test (NCT) has paid a dividend of €4.4 million, as its pre-tax profits grew to €4.5 million on the back of a strong rise in revenues.

Applus, a subsidiary of Applus Automative, is the sole operator of the NCT license in Ireland, and it grew its revenues by 11.6 per cent to €64.3 million in the 12 months to December 31st 2013. Most of the company's revenue is related to the delivery of the NCT, but it also generated €2.2 million in income from Vehicle Registration Tax import conformance inspections, an increase of 31 per cent on the previous year. Pre-tax profits rose by 11.5 per cent to €4.5 million in the year.

On the back of growing demand Applus also increased its workforce, growing its employees by 61 to 665 during 2013, noting that it intends creating a further 25 jobs this year.

Looking ahead, the company said that future growth is expected to come from “core related vehicle inspection and associated road safety activity”.

Applus was awarded the NCT contract by the Road Safety Authority in 2009. The contract was previously held by Vicuna Ltd