Building contractor John N Dunn Group says the pandemic had a significant impact on its trading as operating losses widened to £769,422 last year.
The latest accounts for the Wallsend-based firm - which operates across northern England and Scotland - show turnover fell by 30% from £32.2m to £22.4m in the year to the end of March 2021.
Directors said the firm, which employs nearly 250 people, would have returned an operating profit had it not been for the impact of Covid and that now a cost cutting exercise would see it return to profit.
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Steven Bilclough, director at John N Dunn Group, said: "The directors recognise that the economic climate remains challenging and the construction industry Is highly susceptible to liquidity and credit default risk, particularly with the ongoing uncertainty of Covid-19 and its potential impact on construction sites and sourcing supplies.
"Post year end restrictions within the sector have been minimal as the vaccine rollout continues, and construction sites throughout the UK have remained open, with little impact on the company's ability to continue trading.
"Trading for the year ending March-22 is expected to be at 85% of pre-pandemic levels but a stringent cost cutting exercise has been undertaken which is expected to see the business return to profit."
Mr Bilclough said the firm had won a large number of contracts during the year, including renewables work.
Most recently, John N Dunn has completed ground works - including trenches, bases and reinstatement works - for dual electric vehicle charging points at Durham Cricket's Riverside Stadium in Chester-le-Street as well as several at the homes of players.
The two organisations were brought together by RMT Accountants & Business Advisors, which works as an advisor to both and which designed the financial aspects of the project to take advantage of the incentives available for this type of scheme.
Mr Bilclough said: “Working with an iconic brand like Durham Cricket will be a real boost for us as we look to increase our presence in the thriving electric vehicle and renewable energy technology markets.
“The major housebuilders that we already work with are installing electric vehicle charging points in the new homes they’re building as
standard, and we already hold the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles accreditation required to carry out this work.
“With more and more individuals and businesses moving to electric vehicles, we can only see demand increasing for these services and we’re now training up more installation teams to ensure we have the resources required to meet the heightened levels of customer demand that we’re expecting.
“We also have a number of other service developments planned that offer a great deal of growth potential and we’re excited at where they could take us this year and beyond.”
