Contract start delays at the height of industry-wide cost inflation resulted in revenue falling to less than half that expected by the board.

Delays particularly on public sector jobs waiting for extra funding saw revenue slide 17% to £66.2m in the year to 30 June 2023.

This generated £238,000 pre-tax profit albeit after a small operating loss of £71,000, helped by interest income.

Chairman and managing director, Andy Sewards, said: “It has always been the view of the directors that our staff are a very important part of the business, and we took the decision to continue with the employment of our key staff to enable us to be in a strong position going forward rather than laying off staff and then only have to recruit again as contracts were awarded.

“This was obviously an overhead cost to the business, but we feel that this has benefited the group currently and will continue to do so moving forward.

“Considering the very much reduced turnover and contribution together with the proportionally higher overhead, we are pleased to report that our building company returned to profit.”

He added: “It is also pleasing to report a positive movement of more than £3m to our cash and bank balances during the financial year.”

A strong recovery in contract awards will see revenue double to more than £110m at the GF Tomlinson Building arm (2023: £51m) with contribution forecast up at £9.1m.

Sewards said: “In addition, we are forecasting a turnover of more than £15m in GF Tomlinson and Sons together with a profitable year of trading for Total Hire and Sales and the group company.”