Both construction and the more troubled engineering operations placed the past firmly in the rear-view mirror to return to profitability.

But the £86m turnover infrastructure business continued to struggle in a challenging year and posted an operating loss.

Following a review this year, the infrastructure business now has a fresh management team and narrower focus.

Overall, group revenue rose more than a quarter to £507m in the year to December 2023, generating a pre-tax profit of nearly £6m after a booked loss of £94m back in 2022.

The profit figure included a £6.4m write-off from exiting its Doosan Interserve JV contract and around £1m extra cost from a contract review and completing the exit from London construction.

Last year Tilbury Douglass won £533m of new contracts alone, and as a result, its order book stood at more than £1bn at year-end setting the firm up to deliver budgeted revenue for 2024.

Nicholas Pollard, chair at Tilbury Douglas, said that the firm had made a profitable start to 2024 with over £150m of turnover in the first quarter and a continuing strong cash performance.

“In addition, the group has won more than £172m of new contracts during this period and the order book remains at £1.3bn at the end of Q1,” he said.

Paul Gandy, chief executive officer at Tilbury Douglas, added: “During the last year, cash generation was exceptional, benefitting from profitable growth, working capital management and end of restructuring costs.

“Cash across the group ended 2023 at £42m, up from £12m at end of 2022. The group remains debt free and as expected, there has been no need to draw on the revolving credit facility, and we do not anticipate drawing upon it during the remainder of 2024.”