The Enquirer has seen an internal memo sent to staff by CEO John Murphy.

It explains that a predicted slow down in growth next year means a review of the company cost base.

The email states: “We are now undertaking a review of our functional and operational cost base to ensure that we are making the right levels of investment, which will include looking at current initiatives and deciding where to proceed, hold or postpone.

“Given staff costs make up around 70% of our total overhead cost base, this review and the subsequent changes will affect the number of roles we need in our functional teams.

“I appreciate this creates some uncertainty, so we will do our best to keep you informed of what is happening and when.

“Given this situation, we will have to make some difficult decisions. One of those is cancelling this year’s Christmas party.

“We will look at holding a replacement event in 2019, but considering the review we are undertaking, we do not see it as appropriate to hold a large party this year as planned.”

Latest results for Murphy Group for the year to December 31 2017 show the company made a pre-tax profit of £12.43m from a turnover of £711m.

Those results showed the firm employed a total of 3,878 employees.

A spokesperson for Murphy said “As we win contracts and deliver our growth plan, we regularly review our costs across the company to make sure we continue to deliver efficiently for our clients, safely and reliably.

“As we do this, we believe it’s vital to keep our people informed of those reviews and any potential impacts.”