The figure, which includes head hunting fees for new chief executive Tony Lenehan from Bovis, contributed to a small pre-tax loss of £0.7m in 2010.

Lenehan is presently reviewing the Styles and Wood business, which saw revenue fall 29% to £99.1m, by the end of the year.

Despite tough trading, underlying profits, excluding exceptional payments, reached £1.4m. Most of this came in the second half of the year, with six-month operating profit exceeding £1.0m for the first time since 2008.

The specialist fit-out firm said office and retail banking sector experienced a significant upturn in workload.

In total, S&W fitted out, refurbished or refreshed nearly 300 retail bank branches during 2010 working with Barclays, Lloyds Banking, RBS and Nationwide.

Lenehan said: “2010 saw the group deliver a return to profit driven by strong performance in the second half of the year.

“The more promising signs seen in the second half have continued into 2011 with current trading ahead of the same period 12 months ago.”

He added: “While we expect markets in certain sectors to remain challenging, the group will continue to focus on delivering improved margin performance and sustainable profitable growth.”