JRL chairman John Reddington has admitted the past two years have been among the most challenging in its 27 year history after restating its 2022 accounts resulted in a £47m loss with the owner of Midgard staying firmly in the red last year with a £36m loss.

The company had posted a pre-tax profit of £13m when it filed its 2022 accounts in July last year.

But in its 2023 accounts, JRL said that the cost of materials and labour on fixed-price contracts “have led to notable increases in the estimated total costs require to complete these projects”.

It added: “The operating performance of the affected contracts reported in the finance statements [for 2022] was materially misstated.” It said the overall impact of the adjustments was to reduce equity by £47.5m to £94m.

The firm, whose group of 14 companies also include concrete frame business J Reddington and London Tower Crane Hire, said that pre-tax losses last year had narrowed – but were still £36m.

Revenue at the business, which employs 2,300 people, was up 8.5% to £826m. Cash at the bank and in hand fell from £117m to £82m, the accounts added.

In a statement, Reddington said: “Last year was one of the most challenging periods in in JRL Group’s 27 years trading.”

He added: “The construction industry faced significant disruptions due to economic instability, material shortages, record inflation and unexpected project delays.”

But he added the firm had turned a corner. “The directors view the financial outcomes in 2022 and 2023 as anomalies, not reflective of the long-term trajectory of the business.

“Our pipeline is robust, with several major contracts that were previously delayed now coming to fruition. We anticipate a more stable economic environment which will alleviate some of the pressures we experienced in 2023.”

It added that it had turned in a “strong performance” in the first half of this year, with pre-tax profit up on forecasts, and that its book stood at £1.5bn.

It said that the amount it had set aside for remedial works at the end of 2023 was £10.5m while the amount it set aside for loss-making contract provisions at the end of last year was £6m, having stood at £16m at the beginning of 2023.

The firm added that in April this year it sold an investment property for £12m which saw it book a net cash inflow of £8.5m.