Revenue at the Europe construction division edged up 5% to £1.02bn.

Skanska said the hit came primarily from further projects write downs in Poland and an ongoing cost-cutting programme.

Chief executive Anders Danielsson said the outlook for the UK commercial building market remained weak for the next 12 months.

He said: “In the UK there is still some uncertainty related to Brexit limiting investments in the non-residential building market. The civil market is stable.”

Across the Skanska group construction revenue rose 6% to around £6.5bn while operating income edged up a similar amount to £47m.

Danielson said: “The strategic initiatives to restore profitability levels in our construction stream have begun stabilising our operations in Poland but we experienced additional setbacks in the US operations, where second quarter results were far from satisfactory.

“Looking ahead, we remain highly focused on improving profitability in our construction stream.

“We are continuing the implementation of the strategic initiatives decided upon earlier in the year and having them reach full potential.”