Chief operating officer Callum Tuckett said: “This is significant to the business, however, manageable.”

The pandemic costs were contained in the contractor’s latest accounts which were posted at Companies House this week.

They revealed that Multiplex made a pre-tax loss of £14.4m for the year to December 31 2019 compared to a £12.6m profit last time on revenue down to £872m from £1.1bn.

Multiplex blamed the loss on four problem contracts which blew a £38.6m hole in the bottom line.