Cleveland Bridge 海角视频 has seen its turnover fall by nearly £14m last year after uncertainty around Brexit led to a number of important contracts being delayed.
Revenue at the bridge construction firm - which is famous for its work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge - fell from £50.6m to £36.9m for the year ending December 31 2018.
Operating profit at the Darlington company also fell from £3.3m to £1.2m.
The drop-off in the company’s financial accounts was blamed on “political uncertainty” related to Brexit.
Phil Heathcock, chief financial officer of Cleveland Bridge 海角视频, said: “The investments we have made in people, processes and technology has ensured Cleveland Bridge 海角视频 Ltd has remained profitable in an uncertain market.
“The Brexit effect has been negative on 海角视频 construction order flow, but we have remained agile and competitive, alongside our reputation for consistently delivering projects to satisfied customers, enabling the company to continue to return positive financial results.”
Cleveland Bridge had expected to be awarded £15m of 海角视频 projects in the first quarter of 2018, but due to Brexit, the projects were eventually only awarded in the fourth quarter. On top of this, a large international project that was expected to come through in the fourth quarter was also pushed back to the second quarter of 2019.
While the delays have hit the firm’s top line in the short term, Cleveland Bridge said it expected to see its turnover bounce back to above £50m for the 2019 financial year. This is largely because the backlog of work has led to the firm starting 2019 with an order book worth over £100m.
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The company is also looking to make further investments to reduce its operational costs in 2020, as part of an ongoing business improvement plan.
During 2018, the firm opened an office in Newport to provide sales, design, engineering and project management support to its projects in Wales and South West England.
While many of its contracts were delayed, the company did sign a number of deals, one of which was to carry out rehabilitation and maintenance work on the Humber Bridge. The contract represented a return to the building structures and bridge services markets for Cleveland Bridge.
At the start of 2019 the company also won a deal to build 250 bridges in Sri Lanka. The multi-million pound project is designed to improve connections between the country’s rural communities.