Losses widen for housebuilder Mar City as overheads increase
SOLIHULL-based housebuilder and regeneration firm Mar City has blamed a widening of full year losses on increased overheads following an acquisition and slow progress on contracts.
For the full year ended December 31, 2011, the group has reported a pre-tax loss of £1,285,000 (2010: loss £106,000). Assets have also declined, by year-end to £213,000 (2010: £797,000).
Chairman Hamilton Anstead said: “Although the loss for the year has increased sharply this is a reflection of the overheads assumed by the group following the acquisition of the house building team together with slower than expected progress on contract opportunities following delays in the awarding of Government funding to Housing Associations and other interested parties.”
He said the board remained confident this was a timing issue only and that the group would report a profit together with a much improved trading position for the six months to June 30, 2012.
A new contract win secured in April for 36 new homes for an unnamed housing association was further evidence of the directors’ confidence, he added.
The group has also reached an agreement with another Housing Association for the construction of 29 houses at Stoke Golding in Leicestershire. The new houses will be constructed on land provided by MDL, for who Mar City provides construction services.
Mar City now has three ongoing contracts with an aggregate value of approximately £14.5m and it said that in addition, these contracts had generated revenue in excess of £2.5m for the group in the first four months of the 2012 and underpinned the group’s performance for the year as a whole.
Progress on a contract won in September to build 100 new homes for a housing organisation was also progressing well said the firm and this was expected to complete within two years.
Longer term, it said the shortage of suitable housing stock remained an issue but it was hopeful its growing reputation within a niche market would ensure success.
