The company has its headquarters just outside Perth and operates its plant hire business from 12 locations across the UK.

Morris Leslie’s interests also include plant sales, motor vehicle auctions, the provision of self-storage facilities as well as renting commercial and residential properties.

Group operations director Graham Ogilvie would not confirm the number of jobs at risk but said the 250-strong workforce needed to be “trimmed” to safeguard the business.

Mr Ogilvie told The Courier: “Some locations will have no redundancies, in some we’re talking about a handful of jobs if that.

“We are of the view that our business won’t immediately return to the same level it was at before lockdown.

“Even at this early stage we’ve seen some areas responding better than other areas. It’s very uncertain.

“When the business returns to the level it needs to be we will be taking staff back on again.”

Mr Ogilvie said Morris Leslie had found it “challenging” to run the business in Scotland and England with two different sets of rules.

The company has utilised the furlough scheme and is bringing back staff as volumes pick up.

“The business in England is around 10 weeks ahead of the one in Scotland,” he said.

“We are way behind the curve up north while England has been bouncing back fairly positively. The Highlands have been performing OK but Tayside and the Central Belt have been particularly challenging.

“Every week we are bringing people back from furlough as workload starts to pick up again and it’s very much on an individual location depending on the revenue in that area.”