The fallout from a problem project has dented margins at contractor Multiplex, which has reported pre-tax profit of £4.2m for the year to 31 December 2017.
The figure is 74% lower than the £16m pre-tax profit the company made the year before.
Turnover was £1.2bn in 2017, up from £1bn in 2016.
In accounts filed at Companies House, Multiplex said its earnings benefited from certain higher margin projects but that these were dragged down by reduced margins on an unnamed "challenging project" set to be completed this year.
Earnings before interested, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would have been £24.6m during the year had it not been for the problem job. Once the impact of the troubled project was included, EBITDA was £14.6m, the company said.
Multiplex’s order book stood at £4.2bn as at 31 December 2017, as compared to £3.6bn the year before, after the contractor won three major projects including the £600m One Nine Elms residential and hotel development in London, the £240m Aykon London One (dubbed the "Jenga Tower"), and a £217m contract for the first phase of the Royal Albert Dock development in London (pictured).
The company added that it envisaged a "healthy pipeline" of new work beyond the projects it has secured, thanks to continued demand for office space and high-end residential property in the capital.
