The house building market delivered strong demand, resulting in 38% of total revenue, while infrastructure and general construction markets also continued to show good growth, with improving order levels and contract activity.

This trading improvement lifted pre-tax profit to £3.3m from £1.9m a year before.

Chief executive Mark Cutler said that while house building was now facing challenges, Van Elle was benefitting from improved future work visibility, primarily due to being appointed to several frameworks.

The Rail division was engaged on multiple frameworks including the Core Valley Lines and TransPennine Route Upgrade.

Van Elle also expects to be increasingly involved in support of HS2 phase 1 work, which has helped the directly employed group workforce swell to nearly 660.

Cutler said: “While there remains significant macroeconomic uncertainty, most of the group’s core markets continue to show a positive outlook.

“The house building sector is expected to deliver lower volumes in the short term, however, the infrastructure sector is forecasting modest growth.

“While this might impact overall volumes through the second half the year, the group should benefit from a positive mix of higher margin work delivered.”

He added that raw material supply chain disruption moderated, with improved stability of input prices and better availability of raw materials.

Although he warned inflationary pressures on Van Elle’s cost base had continued and were likely to persist in the short term.