Housebuilder pledges board shake-up in wake of profits warning

HOUSEBUILDER Mar City has said it will beef up its board in the wake of a major profits warning with has now cost it one of its directors.

The Birmingham company has announced that non-executive director Michael Brown will quit the business less than a year after joining.

“Following this resignation and in the context of recent announcements, the company will be strengthening its board in the near term with new appointments (both at the finance director and independent non-executive director levels),” it said.

It has promised further announcements in due course.

The problems began last week when the company revealed that full year profits were likely to be significantly below forecasts because of problems with accounting procedures.

This came just a week after it had forecast that results would meet expectations with profits up threefold compared with 2013.

The builder said that following an internal review of the company’s accounting procedures conducted by the board, it was now forecasting that pre-tax profit for the year ended December 31, 2014, would be approximately £6.3m – well below previous forecasts.

It said the adjustment was due to a review of profit recognition associated with the holding value of completed residential properties, built by the company, in a Private Rental Sector (PRS) portfolio.

Tony Ryan, CEO of Mar City, said: “The board thanks Michael for his contribution to Mar City over the past year and we look forward to announcing new appointments to the board as soon as practicable.”