AJM, with 180 employees, made two thirds of revenue in Slovenia, but the share of exports nevertheless rose from 28% to 34% year-on-year.

Its plan for the next two years is to make 60% of revenue abroad, with German-speaking countries currently its main markets.

AJM posted the biggest growth in Austria, where sales increased by more than EUR 1.2 million to more than EUR 5.5 million, but also in Switzerland and Germany.

Sales in Croatia and Japan remained at the 2016 level, while the company also exports to Hungary, Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Director Trivo Krempl said that "2017 will be remembered for the fresh wind economic growth in Slovenia brought to the construction sector".

The upturn resulted in a totally different relationship between supply and demand, yet given the fierce competition this does not mean it was easy to find buyers, he said.

Demand has increased among both households and companies, but economic growth also brought higher prices of inputs.

Krempl believes the company has not fully used the positive impact of economic growth to maximise profit, so more will have to be done to manage costs.

This will be the company's priority this year, when AJM plans a 4% rise in revenue.