Structural steel specialist Panceltica has quadrupled turnover in the six months to 30 June 2008 and said it will become a billion-pound company in three years.

Turnover at the Qatar-based company, which defied the downturn to float on the alternative investment market in March this year, rose from $31m (£17m) to $156.3m (£85.7m).

After one-off costs of $41.5m (£22m) associated with the flotation, it made a pre-tax loss of $19.8m (£10.9m) over the year.

The group’s main activity is building galvanized-steel houses in the Middle East and it recently signed a deal with Saudi Arabia worth about $2bn (£1.1bn).

Paul Fraser, Panceltica’s chief executive, said: “The Saudis need 4 million houses and that’s still a conservative estimate.”

Panceltica is working with Miller Group in the Middle East and Fraser said he was in talks with other UK firms in the region. “Pick any big UK company in the Middle East and we’re talking to them,” he said.

Fraser said he was looking to move into other countries, including Brazil and India.

He said: “This system only needs a semi-skilled labour force; it’s like snapping Meccano together.”

Fraser said he had no plans to enter the UK, describing it as a “sterile market”.