The boss of a Great Yarmouth oil and gas company said the firm is on course to achieve continued growth this year after seeing its order books boosted by a string of overseas contracts.

Derrick Services UK Limited (DSL) has kick-started the new year with refurbishment contracts in Holland and Abu Dhabi, and a recertification contract in India, where the firm recently opened a new office.

And managing director Mike Smith believes it is only a matter of time before more deals are secured, as it continues to see a 'progressive trend of increased orders' that helped it reach a £22m turnover last year – up £8m on 2011.

The announcement comes as the company revealed its latest set of results, which saw pre-tax profits of £1.184m in 2011 rise by 80pc in 2012 to about £2m.

However, the figure is still under review by auditors.

Mr Smith said: 'These results reinforce a progressive trend of increased orders from both new and established customers.

'What is all the more pleasing is that those trends are continuing with several significant orders having been received over the holiday period and immediately after the new year, with a few more that we are waiting to hear about.

'All of which points towards 2013 being a year of continued growth and activity for the business.'

Last year, the company saw its sales increase by 40pc while the UK operation saw a 37pc increase in turnover.

The success led the company to bolster its workforce in the UK by 20 staff over the course of last year.

Meanwhile, more jobs were also created overseas with the expansion of the Dubai operation, which saw workers move into new premises and new engineering resources added to provide more support to its operations in the Middle East, India and Singapore.

At the end of last year, the firm moved to open a new office in Cochin India to aid a drilling project in Indian Waters, and a deal with ONGC for the survey, engineering and re-certification of several offshore rigs.

But the company's operations in Singapore, Dubai and Brazil, as well as its offices in Houston and Aberdeen, are all looked after from its head office in Yarmouth.

The recent growth spurt follows a restructuring period for Derrick Services in 2007 when it went through a high-profile pre-pack administration, which saved 73 jobs.