Accounts for last year reveal the Harrow-based building services contractor delivered a £690,000 pre-tax loss, improved from losses of £12m in 2018 and £8.5m in 2017.

Revenue at the specialist contractor, which is a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based conglomerate Rezayat Group, rose by 7% to £117m, with increased activity seeing staff numbers edge up to 769.

Chief financial officer, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, said: “The company has been able to reduce its losses substantially during the year due to completion of legacy projects.

“However Covid-19 has impacted the construction industry like other industries in 2020 and the board is monitoring the situation and has taken adequate steps to mitigate risk.”

Lorne Stewart entered the year with a backlog of contracted work and a promising pipeline of opportunities.

“However Brexit and Covid-19 is expected to create market uncertainty which may, in turn, lead to delays in decision-making by clients,” said the firm.

Cash at the end of 2019 was up to £7.7m from £6.6m previously.

Lorne Stewart is the main trading business of the LSRM Group, which also includes Rotary Building Services and offsite specialist MDSL.