The firm’s water engineering business NMCNomenca salvaged the group, helping to return total pre-tax profits of £370,000 after a £6m loss last year.

Robert Moyle, chairman, said that problems still remained in the building and civil engineering division with the resolution of three legacy contracts.

This division has been completely restructured under new management, but further provisions saw it make an operating loss of £840,000 – following a loss of £1.58m in the same period last year – on a revenue reduced by 31.3% to £11.7m.

He said: “Progress is being made in the resolution of these contracts, but the timing of which is proving to be problematical.

“Pleasingly, the underlying business is now trading profitably and the division continues to perform well for longstanding clients such as Tata Steel, Western Power Distribution and East Midlands Housing Association with one recent award being for a £3 million office block in Grove Park, Leicester, which is due to commence in September.”

Total revenue remained flat at around £90m, although water engineering specialist NMCNomenca had a good first half returning operating profits up 8% to nearly £1m on turnover ahead 11% at £41m.

The contractor in conjunction with Laing O’Rourke is starting preparatory work for Severn Trent to reconstruct Ambergate Reservoir, valued at £16.5m.