The firm, which has already closed its southwest regional business, said the Scotland business is being wound down and closed over the next 12 months.

Pre-tax profit decreased 66% to £3.6 million in the six months to February 28, as it booked £14m in exceptional costs linked to the strategy shift.

McCarthy blamed “restructuring and redundancy costs, realignment of land bank to deliver steady state volumes and consultancy fees” for the profits fall.

Revenue rose 17% to £280.5m, but the forward order book is last year at £485m.

The firm said that shortfall is down to organisational design changes within the sales function and planned lower level of releases.

Last year, McCarthy unveiled a major cost-cutting drive as new chief executive John Tonkiss looked to turn around the retirement specialist’s fortunes.

He has ordered a shift in focus from growth to increased returns on investment and improving profit margins.

John Tonkiss said: “During the first reporting period of our transformation strategy and against the backdrop of continuing uncertainty and challenging market conditions, we delivered encouraging results.

“We are making significant progress across our strategic objectives, which focus on optimising our operations to deliver strong financial performance and increasing our return on capital employed, margins and cash generation over the next three years.”