Specialist transport solutions company 21st Century Technology (LON:C21) edged its way into profit in 2017, after increased fleet sales and a strong order book going into 2018.

The group reported a profit of £11,000 in the year to end of December, recovering from a loss of £1.4 million in 2016. Revenue rose to £11.8 million from £11.6 million the year before, with strong fleet sales offset weaker passenger business sales.

Gross profit rose from £4.7 million in 2016 to £5 million, while operating losses falling to just £0.3 million from £2.3 million . The overall cost base fell 18 percent.

Russ Singleton, CEO of 21st Century Technology, commented:

“We’ve made enormous progress in the last year in our strategy to return the Group to profitability. The changes implemented have resulted in a far more dynamic, innovative and customer centric business, leading to several important contract wins.

“I am particularly pleased to see positive results emerging from greater collaboration between our Fleet and Passenger teams. It is this joined-up approach that will position us well for opportunities resulting from the Integrated or Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) government initiatives, and as major urban areas move towards the creation of Smart Cities.”

21st Century Technology offer tailored solutions to the transport community, “solving complex operational requirements both on and off the vehicle”. This includes video surveillance, vehicle and driver performance monitoring and automatic passenger counting.

Shares in 21st Century Technology are currently trading up 1.69 percent at 1.00 (0947GMT).