Other staff will take a similar pay cut for any part of their salary over £30,000.

Michael Morris, chief executive officer, said the firm, which relies heavily on the house building industry, had now furloughed a total of 713 employees, representing 87% of the workforce.

Morris will give up his full salary as part of the cost-saving plan which will come under review at the end of May.

He said: “The company remains in continuous and constructive dialogue with our customers and the management teams will continue to monitor their requirements while keeping resources to hand.

“This will ensure that we are ready to deliver effectively when activity levels increase.

“However, the timing of the lockdown is unfortunate as it occurs during a typically strong quarter for the business.

“In addition, the final summer quarter is likely to be affected by fragmented ‘return to work’ programs due to remobilising and social distancing measures on site.”

Among the three key businesses, Tamdown has furloughed 97% of its staff reflecting the major house builders’ moves to close construction sites.

Morris said that TriConnex continued to see demand for certain utility services from several customers, but had still had to furlough three-quarters of its staff to date.

Its eSmart Networks business has furloughed around half of its staff but was still delivering electric vehicle and smart energy infrastructure schemes, albeit at lower levels.

The group today also reported revenue in the six months to the end of March was up 18% to £84m, with the order book stable at £300m.

Net cash was £8.6m (2019: £12.4m).