Developer Ask declares £18m loss

ASK Developments Group declared a pre-tax loss of £18.7m in 2011 as it wrote down the value of its assets and work in progress.

Newly-filed accounts for the Manchester-based company show that it wrote £13.5m off the carrying value of its portfolio during the year to March 31.

Notes to the accounts prepared by group financial director Jonathan Cross state that much of the year was spent measuring the value of its portfolio against the market “in order to determine if the group was operating from a platform that could realistically deliver best value to shareholders and partners in the future”.

He added that the write-down “reflects the flat-lining economic conditions prevailing throughout the year which saw a further deterioration in land values as a direct result of the il-liquidity in the development finance market”.

The loss meant that the business, which is owned by founders Andy Bate, Simon Dodd and Ken Knott alongside other members of the management team, had net liabilities of £23.4m at year end (2010: £5.2m liabilities).

However, it has subsequently made progress on several fronts since its year end – not least on a refinancing deal with the Co-operative Group which was set to be finalised at the end of June.

Cross said that the refinancing “provides the group with additional term funding of £7m from its principal lender and revised facilities with its other lenders”.

The bulk of the company’s £32.1m turnover for the year came from joint ventures, although it made £4.1m from developments at Central Park and at Eden Square in Urmston.

It has also won development management contracts with both Lancashire County Cricket Club and Manchester City Football Club to develop out land around the Old Trafford stadium and the new Etihad Campus respectively, which are worth around £3m to the company over the next few years.

The firm also agreed a deal with Salford City Council to take the head lease at one of the buildings at the 196,000 sq ft Embankment 101 building with a view to kick-starting the £350m development.

More recently, the company has also gained planning approval for the £80m First Street North element containing a cultural hub and a four-star hotel was last week, and submitted an application containing a foodstore, hotel and student accommodation at First Street South.