THE TBF Thompson Group has announced record turnover of more than £20 million sterling for the 12 months to the end of December 1995, up from £16.6 million the previous year.

There was a marginal increase in gross profits to £1.3 million, from £1.2 million in 1994.

The group, which is owned by the building materials company CRH, employs nearly 150 people in its Northern Ireland operations. It is a leading supplier of construction materials, commercial machinery, and commercial vehicles.

Its subsidiaries include TBF Thompson Engineering, TBF Thompson Properties, the construction company Farrans, where profits are reported to have been hit by overcapacity in the industry, the Toomebridge firm Scoll Limited, and Readyuse Concrete.

Another subsidiary, the Coleraine company R.J. Maxwell, contributed record revenue after securing five new civil/blacktop contracts.

TBF Thompson's figures have been boosted by the acquisition last year of the Leyland Daf franchise, and by the completion of a large order for trailers for Uganda.

The company says that profit margins had been eroded by "stiff competition and higher overheads" and warned that "difficult trading conditions are expected to persist".