The Bouygues-owned contractor posted a pre-tax profit of £3.8m for 2025, reversing last year’s £29m loss after slashing one-off restructuring and legacy new build costs from £50m to £17m.

Turnover fell 17% to £650m as the business completed its retreat from loss-making construction markets, but the underlying business remained firmly profitable.

Recurring operating profit edged up to £25m from £22m, lifting the underlying operating margin to 4.1% from 3.4%.

Directors said the transformation was now largely complete, with the business focused on housing maintenance, refurbishment, decarbonisation, fire safety and local authority services.

Student accommodation is now its only remaining new build construction market after the decision to withdraw from traditional residential development.

They said the move had been reinforced by persistent pressures in the new build sector, including inflation, supply chain failures and the impact of the Building Safety Act.

The reshaped business continued to land major long-term public sector work during the year.

It secured a 10-year Birmingham City Council housing repairs and maintenance contract expected to generate around £500m, a £111m regeneration partnership with Haringey Council and a five-year £94m repairs and maintenance deal with Anchor covering more than 14,000 homes across northern England.

Fire safety and retrofit also remain central to the growth strategy. Equans continues to deliver Southern Housing’s £120m fire remediation programme and secured places on Metropolitan Thames Valley’s £807m remediation framework, alongside appointments to Fusion21’s £1.5bn decarbonisation framework and Procurement for Housing’s funded retrofit framework.

The contractor also strengthened its position in the government’s Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund programme, supporting successful bids worth £216m and winning major retrofit schemes with Leeds City Council, Babergh and Mid Suffolk district councils and Notting Hill Genesis.

Despite the earnings recovery, the balance sheet still reflects the legacy of the restructuring. Provisions increased to £40m from £34m, while year-end cash stood at £145,000.

Looking ahead, directors said Equans entered 2026 with a “high quality, strategically aligned order book”.