Finance director Maura Toles said the business had been restructured successfully, although this resulted in revenue falling by more than half over the last two years from £418m in 2015 to £188m in 2017.

This downsizing saw staff numbers drop 14% over the year to 391, down from around 500 in 2015 before restructuring took place.

Pre-tax profit edged into the black at £428,000 after the UK business ran up stinging losses of £10.9m in 2016 and £17.7m in 2015.

Toles said: “The business is well positioned to grow its profit levels in coming years and also has a strong order book for 2019.”

Sisk’s UK business has recently secured landmark projects such as the £88m hanger for Boeing at Gatwick and the £190m fourth phase of Great Ormond Street’s redevelopment programme.

The builder is also a primary partner of developer Quintain in its major redevelopment at Wembley Park and at present is delivering over 3,000 residential units in the UK market.

While John Sisk and Son made a small operating profit it still had net liabilities of £4.3m at the end of 2017, although these are being underwritten by John Sisk & Son (Holdings).

The Ireland-based parent company reported a pre-tax profit of €24.7m on revenue down 5% to €792m.

Stephen Bowcott, CEO of John Sisk & Son said: “Our engineering and construction business enjoyed a successful year in 2017, where performance reflected strong levels of activity, particularly in areas such as data and technology, life sciences and biopharma, advanced manufacturing, commercial, retail, residential and civil engineering.”

Bowcott added: “The focus we brought to the business in 2017 was around value generation – for our customers, our people and our shareholders.

“This meant a shift from being a revenue-led business to being a profit-led business working with key partners to generate greater productivity in the industry leading to better outcomes for our customers.

“I’m happy to report that Sisk recorded no loss-making projects in 2017 for the second consecutive year.”