DCC, parent company of Certas Energy, has reported strong growth in profits and sales for the year ended 31 March 2017.

Pre-tax profit this year was up 23.7% to £268.2m, compared with £216.7m the previous year, and revenue was £12,270m this year, up 17.4% on last year’s £10,448m.

The company said there had been a very active period of corporate development, with more than £550m committed to acquisitions, including the agreed acquisition of Esso’s retail network in Norway, and the agreed acquisition of Shell’s LPG business in Hong Kong and Macau, DCC’s first material step beyond Europe.

Commenting on the results, Tommy Breen, chief executive, said: “I am very pleased to report that the year ended 31 March 2017 has a strong year of growth and development for DCC. The results reflect the continued successful execution of our strategy in significantly growing our operating profits, converting those profits into cash and re-deploying capital into our energy, healthcare and technology businesses.

“The group continues to have the ambition, capacity and opportunity for further development. We expect that the coming year will be another year of profit growth and development for DCC.”

Overall volumes in DCC Energy increased by 12.5% to 14.6 billion litres, driven by the full-year impact of the acquisition of the Esso Retail business in France and by the first time contribution of the acquisitions of Gaz Européen and Dansk Fuels. On a like-for-like basis, volumes were 1.0% ahead of the prior year. DCC Energy’s revenue increased by 20.7% (14.0% on a constant currency basis).