Firm blames problem contracts for slump

Murphy

North London contractor J Murphy & Sons slumped into the red last year, racking up a near 拢6m pre-tax loss.

The firm blamed 鈥渃hallenging鈥 market conditions and problem jobs for the slump during the period which was the first full year under the stewardship of John Murphy, the grandson of the company鈥檚 founder.

Murphy replaced O鈥橰ourke veteran Steve Hollingshead in the top seat at the beginning of 2018.

It said a strong performance in its UK transport and power divisions, as well as the company鈥檚 Irish and Canadian operations, helped lift revenue by 4.4% to 拢781m.

The contractor said it has already secured 73% of its target workload for 2020 and 40% for 2021.