The firm recorded a fall in revenue to £108.7 million (30 June 2019: £189.0m) in its interim results for the period to June 30, 2020, as all operations were impacted by COVID-19 and H1 2019 benefited from the final stage of the TECA project in Aberdeen.

Profit before tax of £7.2m (30 June 2019: £24.1m) was “slightly ahead” of revised expectations and supported by Henry Boot’s land promotion business.

Chairman Jamie Boot confirmed that the impact will result in job losses but stopped short of revealing how many positions will be impacted.

He said: “Although activity levels within our operations are increasing, we are not confident that levels will equal those seen pre-CV-19, for some time. On that basis we have made the difficult decision to undertake restructuring plans, which will result in redundancies in the construction division.

“Due to the impact of CV-19 we are anticipating a reduction in private sector opportunities later in the year, which may lead to a risk of tightening margins and we do not expect activity to achieve pre-pandemic levels in the short term.

“This, together with the need to ensure the business is fit for the future has resulted, unfortunately, in restructuring plans being implemented within the construction division.

“Despite CV-19 materially impacting Henry Boot Construction, we are well placed to weather this uncertainty through our substantial public sector client base and our presence on several public sector national and regional frameworks, where we expect spend on construction projects will be maintained in the short term to pump prime the general economy.”

Chief executive officer Tim Roberts added: “The first half of the year has proved to be very challenging for all of us, but with an agile recovery plan and a robust balance sheet Henry Boot remains in a strong position.

“While CV-19 has affected our interim results and led us to make difficult decisions to reshape and protect the business, we have seen clear improvements in our operations.

“As this momentum builds, we have been quick to secure selective long-term opportunities and make progress in our key markets – residential, industrial and urban development.

“We are prepared for uncertain times ahead but where we see good opportunities to invest, without taking undue risk, we will continue to take them.

“I would like to thank all of the Group’s employees for their dedicated hard work during this unprecedented period, whose efforts have helped keep the business viable and produced a robust set of results, which are creditable given the circumstances we are in.”