Despite the sharp fall in turnover, Billington remained profitable with pre-tax profit down three quarters to £0.6m.

Mark Smith, chief executive officer, said: “We have seen a significant impact on our first-half revenue, however with all group operations having now returned to near full capacity and with the majority of projects having restarted, we look forward to the remainder of the year with cautious optimism.

“We anticipate improved group financial performance in the second half of the year, before hopefully moving to more normal trading conditions in 2021, assuming the economy stabilises and commences its recovery from the pandemic.”

He added that the 2021 order book continued to grow with both delayed and new projects.  

Smith said: “There are a number of larger projects in prospect and the number and quality of enquires is at near historic levels. 

“We are seeing opportunities in all sectors, particularly large retail distribution warehouses, data centres, food processing developments, public sector works and rail infrastructure.  

“It is encouraging that the more robust developers are also continuing with commercial office development projects where significant pre-lets can be secured.”

But he sounded a warning on materials costs.

Since the completion of the takeover of British Steel by Jingye in March, Billington had seen improved supply and some stability return to the UK steel supply market.

But he said Billington remained conscious of the continued upward price pressure of the raw materials for steel production and aimed to mitigate the risk associated with price escalation using a number of mechanisms.