HANSON, the multi-national aggregates group that supplies concrete to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link through Kent and Medway, boosted profits by 12 per cent in the first half of the year. Pre-tax profits rose 12.3 per cent to £145.1 million in the six months to June 30, but turnover fell from £2,041.8m to £1,989.m.

Turnover in the building materials division rose from £674.8m to £705.6m, although the company blamed the Jubilee bank holidays and the World Cup for falling demand in June for UK aggregates and ready-mixed concrete. The group employs 6,000 people in the United Kingdom, including 320 in Kent where it operates three quarries, 10 Premix concrete plants, three wharves and depots, one recycling site and one brick factory.

It has Kent offices in Allington, Borough Green, and Tilmanstone in the former East Kent coalfields. It opened a new quarry at Blaise Farm, near Offham, in 2001. Hanson is the largest producer of aggregates and concrete pipe and products in the world and the third largest producer of ready-mixed concrete.