CONSTRUCTION giant CEC has met a bank-imposed deadline to more than halve its debt and is predicting a bright future as demand for its services hits record levels.

The Commonwealth Bank, CEC's major lender, had given the construction and development company until last Friday to reduce its debt to $80 million from $168 million.

CEC chairman and co-founder Roy Lavis said it was a "rewarding moment in the CEC Group history" to be able to call the bank and say it had met the deadline, which was imposed eight months ago.

The next three months would be spent negotiating with the bank to provide a long-term debt facility.

"We were one of the first companies in Australia to feel the impact of the sub-prime crisis," Mr Lavis said.

"We had eight months to reduce our company debt from $168 million to $80 million and at the same time we had to ensure that we had a viable business at the end of this process. Now that is, without doubt, a real challenge for any company to achieve, but we did it.

"Calling the bank last Friday to say that we had achieved the desired debt level was certainly a very rewarding moment in the CEC Group company history."

Mr Lavis said CEC had cut its debt largely by selling non-core assets in Cairns and Townsville as part of a major business restructure.

He said despite the sales, the CEC Group's residential land bank remained one of the largest in Queensland and demand for land had jumped dramatically in recent weeks following the Federal Government’s increased first home buyers' grant.

Mr Lavis said the company's biggest challenge had been to reduce debt without impacting on the overall operation.

"There is little point in cutting debt but then not having a business to run at the end of the process," he said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

"Today, we have a streamlined company that is clearly focused in three core areas - civil construction, residential property development and supply of raw materials for the building, construction and mining industries.

"We remain very strong in Cairns, Townsville, Cooktown and Mt Isa with a growing presence on Cape York. Each division is profitable with record amounts of work on our books for the coming 12 months."

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