Despite a 15% rise in revenue to £484m, pre-tax profits fell short of expectations reaching £835,000, up from £585,000 previously.

The lacklustre performance in the year to March 2021, saw operating margins remain static at 0.3%.

Over the period Bouygues provided £4.3m to cover expected losses on continuing contracts and provided £1m to cover restructuring.

Latest private accounts submitted for the UK construction operation of the French construction giant also revealed the firm had raised its non-current provisions for potential cost risks relating to fire safety obligations.

This rose by an additional £17.5m taking its total provision up to £33.3m over the next 12 years.

Bouygues UK CFO Jean Luc Midena said: “While the company faced cost increases due to inflation on some of its projects and additional costs linked to fire safety related matters there were more than offset by increased volume of profitable trading as the company remained resilient.”