NORTH-EAST data monitoring specialist Brulines has seen a fall in profits, despite boosting revenues by more than a fifth.

The Stockton company, which is changing its name to Vianet to reflect its expanding role, announced a 22.4 per cent rise in turnover to £24.3m in the year to March 31 in its annual report. But pre-tax profits of £3.02m were down 25.1 per cent on the £4.03m recorded the previous year.

The drop reflected rising costs facing Brulines’ customers in the leisure and licensing trade, as well as lower margins in some of the firm’s recently acquired businesses.

Brulines has bought three businesses for its fuel division in recent months and data collection firm Amscreen M2M.

James Dickson, chief executive of Brulines, said: “It’s exciting times for Vianet.

We’ve invested in four acquisitions in the past year. Three have created an end-to-end one-stop offering in the forecourt sector. They will move through break-even and make a contribution somewhere north of £0.5m.”

The group, which originally supplied monitoring equipment to pub landlords, plans to trade under the name Vianet to reflect its changing role.