Dwindling demand and fierce market pricing of steelwork in the UK, prompted Billington to restructure and dispose of its loss-making Dosco Overseas Engineering and Hollyoak Engineering businesses during the year.
Taking into account a non recurring loss on the deal, overall profits at the group fell by half to £1.6m on total sales down 5% to £57.2m.
Executive chairman Peter Hems said: “Despite challenging market conditions, we have remained profitable and doubled our cash position.
“The disposal of our loss making non-core assets, Dosco and Hollybank, allows us to focus on our main business of structural steel and building safety systems.”.
He added that the firm’s order book had improved, particularly through new deals with supermarket and other private sector clients. “This means we are cautiously optimistic about our prospects in 2010.”
The firm had a year-end cash balance of £8.5m and it reduced its pension deficit from £5.2m to £0.2m.