The second year of consecutive profit draws to a close a rocky period for the construction arm which had previously struggled with maintaining profitability.

Turnover at the construction business jumped by nearly half to £89m in the year to the end of December 2023.

This strong rebound also lifted parent company, Eric Wright Group, which recorded an increase in turnover to £232m from £168m as the pipeline of projects continued to improve across the group.

But on-going economic and political challenges materially impacted some non-construction activities at the Eric Wright group, which reported a fall in underlying trading profit to £7.5m  from £11.9m the year before.

John Hartnett, managing director of Eric Wright Construction, said: “We have secured an excellent order book for 2024, which exceeds our set target and ensures the company is well placed to deliver sustained profits going forward.

“As we look ahead, we will continue to focus on quality, adopting tight commercial control, effective site management, avoiding high risk opportunities and ensuring we attract and retain talented individuals.”

• Eric Wright has appointed Ryan Pearce as managing director of its facilities management business, replacing George Lilley who stepped down in June.

Previous to joining Eric Wright FM, Pearce spent a year at consultant Tetra Tech Europe as director of the FM devisjon of the consultant.

Before that he was partnership director at Equans.