The company said: “Following the previous closure of certain regional Building businesses, the Board has decided to make an exceptional provision of £2.9m against certain contract costs which are expected to be unrecoverable.

“These costs, which have already been expended, are due primarily to the insolvency of certain subcontractors.”

But there was better news with other exceptional items which saw the sale of 71 acres of land in Rugby net a £9.4m profit.

The cash will help fund Renew’s recent £7.9m acquisition of Cardiff based Lewis Civil Engineering Limited.

Renew said current trading is in line with expectations and preliminary results are due on November 21.