The Northampton-based contractor said forward orders presently stood at £904m and strong business growth over recent years had built up strong cash reserves.

Reporting record turnover up 9% to £686m in the year to January 2020, managing director Simon Girardier said the outlook for this year remained good in Winvic’s key markets.

Despite pre-tax profits more than halving over the last year to £9.4m from £20.3m previously, net cash remained steady at £86m.

Girardier said: “The board continues to manage cash prudently during the Covid situation and has maintained a positive cash position with no borrowing.”

He added: “The insurance and performance bond markets have hardened significantly over the period, however the business has managed to secure cover and sufficient facilities to continue trading and allow for planned future growth.”

All key trading divisions performed well over the year with the industrial arm delivering 6m sq ft of space, taking Winvic to the historic milestone of having delivered 60m sq ft of industrial space.

Winvic also reinforced its standing in the residential sector creating 1,152 build to rent rooms and 1,200 student beds during the year.

Girardier said: “The group’s prospects look very positive for 2020 and beyond with a forward order book of £904m, £575m for the current year, with a pipeline of secured contracts across our five key operating sectors, including £125m within multi-room.

“The industrial market remains strong and we head into 2020 with a forward order book of £680m.”