The contractor made a pre-tax loss before exceptional items of £5.2m for the year to December 31 2023 compared to an £800,000 profit last time as turnover ticked-up to £1.172bn from £1.147bn.

Operating losses increased to £7.5m from £15,000 last time.

Chief executive Graham Dundas said: “We are confident of a swift return to profit in 2024 after last year’s performance was disproportionately impacted by a small number of significant supply chain partner insolvencies.

“The affected projects are now either finished or close to completion, allowing us to quickly return to predictable profits in 2024.

“The calming of inflation is supported by a relentless focus on the right projects, with the right customers and right supply chain partners.”

Willmott Dixon said it has made a strong start to the current year with £700m of new orders and Q1 profit and turnover already ahead of budgeted forecasts.

It has a record order book of £3bn with 85% of projected work for 2024 now secured.

Dundas added: “We are delighted by the strong start that Willmott Dixon has made to 2024, with our Q1 profit and turnover already ahead of our budgeted forecasts and a record pipeline of over £3bn.

“I’m particularly encouraged by the way in which the business has responded to a difficult 2023, when certain projects were materially impacted by the industry-wide problem of significant inflation, as well as key supply chain failures at critical times.

“With inflation easing and a strong pipeline of high-quality work, our resilient balance sheet and a healthy mix of long-term revenues means that Willmott Dixon is well-positioned to prosper in 2024.

“Significantly, our cash position remains strong; we closed out 2023 with a cashbook of £115m, underlining our position of financial strength, and recently renewed our banking facilities with a new three-year term.

“While we have no expectations of drawing on these facilities, having access to this committed long-term additional source of funds provides further confidence to our customers, other stakeholders and supply chain partners in choosing Willmott Dixon as a long-term partner.”