Latest results at parent company Barhale Holdings show turnover dipped to £110m for the year to June 30 2021 from £142m last time in line with major clients’ spending plans.

But pre-tax profits were up at £1.3m from break even last time and the civils giant has also secured a new funding deal to power future growth.

Chief executive Martin Brown – who joined the firm from Keltbray last year – said: “We have again demonstrated Barhale’s ability to navigate the economic and operational market conditions that our industry has faced.

“Across our water sector client base, which includes Anglian Water, Affinity Water, Portsmouth Water, Severn Trent Water, Thames Water, and Yorkshire Water, we are now seeing strong levels of activity and an almost universal forecast of things only getting busier through the remainder of the AMP period.

“We also successfully continue to deliver projects for National Grid, Network Rail, Thames Tideway and North London Waste Authority and our focus on building long-term relationships has translated into a very strong current order book of almost £1bn.

“While the group saw turnover fall, it was in line with expectations and reflected the typical pattern of revenue flows in the early stages of the water industry’s AMP7 cycle when there is an emphasis on planning and design.

“Benchmarked against the same period in the AMP6 cycle the group has seen an almost 35% uplift in turnover. As we move into the key delivery phase, we fully anticipate that uplift continuing and tracking into topline growth.”.

“Since my arrival, I have been working closely with the board to look for opportunities to strengthen the senior operations team. We are very pleased to have appointed a new operations director and we are in the process of recruiting a new engineering director who will support the development and growth of our rail infrastructure business.

“As we move into 2022, this performance will be a foundation for the implementation of our new five year business strategy which will increase both resilience and sustainability to our systems, processes and the way we plan, construct and commission our projects.

“This in turn will offer a greater service to our clients across the water, transport, energy and built environment sectors, and provide solid foundations for diversification and sustainable growth.”

Barhale’s refinancing package was arranged by specialist FRP.