The Edinburgh-based group said its workload has decreased and margins remains “disappointing” heading into the second half.

Pre-tax profit for the half year came up to £652,000, an increase from £531,000 for the same period the year before, while revenue increased to £11.9 million, up from £9.5m in 2016.

J Smart & Co’s capitalised cost for construction has come down to £209,000, a significant 83% decrease from £1.2m for the same period last year.

However J Smart & Co have reported that its margins remain “disappointing” due to the difficult letting of its office properties, the prospect of private residential sales numbers for the year being substantially less, and the uncertainties created by the ongoing political and economic situation which can reduce property values by the end of the financial year.

“While it is not possible to make an accurate forecast of the year end figures it is evident that because of costs arising from redundancies and reduced turnover in the second half of the financial year we will not achieve last year’s underlying profit,” the company said.