This saw the business slide to a £10.8m pre-tax loss in the year to 30 September 2023 after recording a £6.5m profit in the prior year.

Managing director Patrick Byrne said the firm had been hit by the rising cost of materials and labour which had ravaged all parts of the construction supply chain on fixed price contracts and resulted in the rise in company failures.

Although Ardmore achieved its second highest level of activity at £403m (£435m: 2022) it was short of the board’s target of £448m.

In the latest accounts, Byrne said “difficulties building momentum on four key jobs and delayed contract awards” both contributed to the revenue shortfall.

“While inflation has eroded margin across all jobs, the supply chain failures have heavily impacted the margins on three key projects.

“Two of these three reacted well to the failures but the other fell well short.

He added: “Following an internal review several structural changes have been made to avoid a recurrence.”

Byrne said that manufacturing activities had slowed down in tandem with the construction projects but with a recent contract awards this was set to improve.

Five recent contract wins totalling £530m have restored Ardmore’s order book, putting the contractor on course to maintaining revenue around £400m this year.

Cash was down at £40m from £56m in 2022.