EXTERITY, the video communications specialist, has signalled plans to double its 54-strong Scottish workforce in the next five years as it moved to bigger headquarters in Dalgety Bay.

The expansion comes as the Fife-based company, which intends to take on 20 staff in its home town this year, reports growing demand for its services around the world. The business currently employs more than 70 staff in total.

Turnover reached £8.6 million in 2014 and is on course to exceed £10m in the current financial year, amid strong growth in the US and Middle East.

Exterity, whose solutions allow companies to stream television and video content around business facilities, has invested £250,000 in switching to the 13,000 square foot office and production space.

Its new facility combines a large office with 1500 square foot of manufacturing space.

Chief executive Colin Farquhar, who founded the company in 2001, said the bigger premises have sufficient headroom to accommodate the company's growth plans.

Mr Farquhar said: "[In] our previous facility we literally had folk sharing desks over the last few weeks because we really had no space for anyone to go. Now we have office accommodation that's currently taking about 50 people but has space for 100. This year alone we have hired something like 10, 12 people, so we are very aggressively hiring.

"That's the investment we are making that's really key - this facility gives us the opportunity to continue the growth that we have enjoyed."

Asked which type of roles Exterity is looking to fill, Mr Farquhar said recruitment will focus on a mix of software engineers and business functions such as finance, operations and marketing.

Exterity's systems allow venues such as airports and stadiums to show content on a range of screens and devices, and for information to be delivered to mobile devices, helping staff to make quick and accurate decisions.

The business, whose systems are deployed in more than 40 countries, has offices in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and South Africa, with clients including Celtic Football Club, University College London, Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia, Spanish Airport Authorities and television network Phoenix TV Beijing. Its systems are commonly used by banks, legal firms, hotels schools and hospitals.

The most recent accounts for Exterity available at Companies House show that it booked pre-tax profits of £502,645 in the year ended December 31, 2014, up from £181,249 the year before.

Turnover climbed to £8.6 million from £7.5m, reported the company, whose equity is held by a "good spread" of shareholders. These range from the executive team to institutional investors and the Scottish Investment Bank.

Asked to comment on current trading, Mr Farquhar said demand is proving to be strong from Dubai, where there remains a busy building programme, and the US.

He said: "We are targeting this year to push through £10m revenue. We are on track with that at the moment [and] business is going well generally. Some parts of the business are going particularly well - we [are] very pleased with the performance coming out of the Middle East at the moment. We expect another good strong year."

Kerry Sharp, head of Scottish Investment Bank, said: "We have been working with Exterity since 2003, and it is exciting to see them moving into new premises to accommodate their growth plans.

"They are a very innovative business, with impressive international networks and a strong management team and we look forward to continuing to support Colin and the team to deliver on this next phase of growth for Exterity."