Turnover edged up 6% to £1.4bn in the year to December 2023 to generate a £39m pre-tax profit, almost level with the prior year.

Average group operating margin fell back from 2.8% to 2.5% amid more challenging conditions at VolkerFitzpatrick and VolkerHighways.

The marine and environmental infrastructure business VolkerStevin put its previous year’s loss of £1.9m behind it to return a £2.1m operating profit from revenue up nearly a third at £260m.

The highways business was held back by a reduction in telecoms fibre installation works due to lower funding levels from client, as their investors took the opportunity to review consumer uptake for the high- speed networks they were building.

In general, market conditions remained challenging throughout the year with local authorities seeing funding cuts and tendering remaining intensely competitive.

The overall slowdown in VolkerFitzpatrick’s outlook saw the group forward order book fall by nearly a quarter to £1.3bn.

Richard Offord, CEO of VolkerWessels UK, said:  “2023 was a positive year and the group made significant financial and operational progress despite the uncertain economic and political landscape.

“It is a testament to the hard work, commitment, and resilience of our people, who are the driving force behind our businesses, that we ended the year in a strong position.”