Robert Goodhew, chief executive of the Spie UK Group, said the main Spie contracting business, formerly called Spie Matthew Hall, had been hit by legacy contracts as well as an impairment of a group receiveable.

Restructuring costs over 2016 ran to £2.3m and contract losses stood at £2.1m as well as an impairment of a group receiveable of £5.4m.

Before exceptionals the group operating profit stood at £1.6m compared with £5.5m previously, translating to a sharp fall in operating margin from 2% to 0.6%.

Over the year average staff numbers were cut from around 3,189 to 2,675 in 2016.

The main group holding company also revealed it spent £28m last year on two key acquisitions.

Last November Spie paid £21.4m for the £60m Trios Group, it also later that month spent £6.7m for the £19m turnover Environmental Engineering Services.

The deal meant acquisitive Spie currently employs a total of 3,600 staff in the UK specialising in multi-technical services from over 20 offices.