Of the group’s three main businesses, Tamdown civil engineering was hardest hit suffering a £3.3m loss from the widespread house building site shut down until August.

This saw 98% of staff furloughed over the summer.

Directors have since restructured in September with a wave of redundancies costing £600,000.

The firm’s utility connection business TriConnex and electric charging point specialist eSmart Networks proved more resilient to the pandemic, although ESmart also dipped into the red.

Overall group revenue dropped 23% to £126m.

Looking forward, Mike Morris, chief executive of Nexus, said that the firm had started to see improving trading conditions and expected to return to profitability in this financial year

He said: “Nexus has a strong balance sheet, a good reputation for quality and provides essential services in EV infrastructure and clean energy.

“This, coupled with the ongoing structural demand for housing in the UK, leaves Nexus well-placed to return to pre-Covid-19 levels of activity by FY22.”