Annual profits at Suffolk-based Brookfield Utilities have increased by more than one-third as it continues to add to the number of properties it connects.

Brookfield Utilities, which has its registered office on the Woolpit Business Park, near Bury St Edmunds, but operates across the county, competes against other infrastructure firms – including regional utility operators – to provide the “last mile” connection to new-build properties, which it then continues to operate.

Accounts submitted to Companies House show that, in the year to December 31, 2015, Brookfield Utilities’ total number of connections grew by 10%, from around 1.415million to 1.556m.

Revenue grew by just over 18%, from £187.59m to £221.62m, with operating profits rising by a similar margin, from £85.37m to £101.24m.

And profit before tax grew by 35%, from £53.97m to £72.84, with the size of the increase reflecting a reduction in finance costs compared with the previous year.

Brookfield Utilities, a member of the EADT/EDP Top 100 listing of the 100 largest companies in Suffolk and Norfolk, provides gas, electricity, drinking water and waste water connections to new residential and commercial properties, charging gas, electricity and water suppliers for the use of its assets. It has also developed similar business models for the provision of connections to optical fibre communications networks, district heating networks and commercial gas metering.

In its annual report – signed on behalf of the board by director Darryl Corney – the company said that it had outperformed both the previous year and its budget for 2015 on all key performance indicators, including earnings and cumulative connections.

“Completed connections increased in line with the build out of the contracted order book and a general recovery in UK house buildinging,” it said.

Looking ahead, the report added: “A key driver for the future growth of the group is the general health of the UK residential housing market.

“As at the end of 2015, the group had a contracted forward order book to complete approximately 700,000 connections across all of its services over the next three to five years, up from approximately 600,000 at the end of 2014.

“Furthermore, any favourable improvement in general economic conditions in the UK that improves the level of enquiries from house builders is generally positive for the group’s businesses.”