The contractor has built up a strong order book of £3.3bn, slightly ahead of a year ago and resumed dividend payments to shareholders.

Despite group revenue sliding 15% to £542m, the business delivered a pre-tax profit of £4.1m and achieved a divisional operating margin of around 1.6%.

Bill Hocking, chief executive, said: “The first half of the financial year has seen our people continuing to respond excellently to the challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, maintaining the highest standards on our sites and protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of our staff, clients and stakeholders.

“We have a strong order book in our chosen sectors. 

“We are encouraged by the expected future demand across our building, highways and environment businesses, as we maintain our disciplined approach to project selection and risk management. “

Across the business, the building division, which accounts for 69% of revenue, saw a dip in sales mainly as a result of more selective bidding.

Infrastructure division revenue also slipped due to the switch to the new AMP7 water asset management cycle.

Looking ahead, Hocking said the business hoped to report a profit in the present financial year of around £10m with revenue between £1.1bn and £1.3bn.

He predicted that average month-end cash would be ahead of initial expectations at up to £165m.

Hocking said Galliford Try would now repay the £1.5m claimed in Government furlough payments after withdrawing from the scheme last August.