Jarvis chairman Stephen Norris has reassured York staff that the troubled company is back on track after a turbulent year which brought it to the brink of collapse.

York employees of Jarvis faced an uncertain future as the firm posted half-year losses of more than £230 million and the chief executive resigned.

But the crisis was averted when shareholders unanimously agreed to sell its £25 million portfolio of York properties, including its headquarters Jarvis House, in Toft Green, York, to Network Rail.

The company also sold its stake in the Tubelines consortium that carries out most of the engineering work on the London Underground to persuade its primary lenders to re-finance debts until March 2006.

Mr Norris, who was in York to speak to the City of York Conservative Association, told the Evening Press it had been a "momentous year" for Jarvis. He said: "There was a time a few months ago when all the reports were effectively writing our obituaries, but we have recovered from that."

"We have gone back to the core business and that is road and rail and associated plant hire, and that has the potential to be a good, profitable business. We are also doing what we are very good at, because Jarvis remains the most cost effective re-railer in Britain."

He said the move to new, smaller premises in Blossom Street, York, had marked a fresh start, for the company which now has 3,000 staff nationwide compared to 13,000 at one time.

"It is so good for morale to change the environment," he said. "It has been an absolutely torrid time. It has been very painful at times and certainly exhausting."

The former Conservative transport minister, who was twice runner-up to Ken Livingstone in the battle of become London Mayor, said York staff should feel reassured about the future of the jobs.

"I can't say that all the remodelling of the company we need to do is completed as of today, but I think people recognise we are starting to recruit rather than shed.

"We may well find there are areas we have to reduce costs, but at the same time, we are recruiting good quality people."

Updated: 09:37 Thursday, February 24, 2005