Tilbury Douglas Group saw trading profits halve to £6.2m last year as it relaunched as a standalone business.

Revenue also fell 13% to £405m as the business saw its first-half impacted by the transition from Interserve Group to Tilbury Douglas.

Chairman Nick Pollard said the firm ended the year on a firm footing with strong orders and all legacy issues and contracts cleared.

The firm decoupled its legacy defined benefit pension scheme through a third-party buyout, which resulted in the group reporting a non-cash book pre-tax loss of £94m after assets transferred.

The loss derived from the non-underlying items including nearly £15m of restructuring costs associated with the exit from Interserve and an £86m book loss from the transfer of pension assets.

Pollard said: “Decoupling the pension scheme, together with the exit from Interserve Group, have removed huge areas of uncertainty and placed Tilbury Douglas group onto a solid footing.

“The process leading up to the implementation of that exit in the first half of the year inevitably created speculation and uncertainty, denting first-half trading of the group.

“However by 31 December 2022 confidence had returned and the new Tilbury Douglas Group had won an orderbook of quality in excess of £1.2bn in value.

“The directors anticipate that 2023 and beyond will provide solid growth and profitable performance.”

Chief executive Paul Gandy added that Tilbury would be focused on construction areas in which it had a proven track record over many years and would not be venturing into areas where the risk profile of the projects was viewed as too high.”

Around 80% of projects secured are directly to the public sector, with the balance split between regulated utilities and blue chip private clients.

He said that Tilbury Douglas was forecast to achieve around £530m turnover this year with a return to profitability.