While the group’s key construction, highways and water divisions returned better profits last year, the telecoms arm suffered a £2.6m loss on flat revenue of around £30m.

Homer has now restructured the management of the telecoms operation and taken direct leadership of the division which works mainly for Virgin Media.

Homer said: “The market is very strong in this sector with significant spending plans in place across the whole country. The performance of this division is under careful scrutiny to ensure that the changes made achieve the desired results and achieve an acceptable margin return.”

While group turnover jumped 15% to £250m, pre-tax profit edged up to £2.2m, compared to £606,000 in 2015, after taking into account a £3.5m loss on legacy contracts.

Homer, who joined North Midland halfway through last year from Morgan Sindall, said work on the last remaining legacy project was completed in 2016, with North Midland now pursuing a final settlement claim with the client.

He added: “We remain confident in in the outlook and expect the positive progress achieved to continue into 2017 and beyond. Key successes will continue in water and improvement will be seen in the other divisions. The strategic focus in utilities will enhance the performance of the group in the short term.”

In the year ahead North Midland aims to further expand its highways business in the North West and Northern Home Counties.