One of Scotland’s largest house builders, Stewart Milne Group, has reported a turnover of £276m and a net loss before tax and exceptionals of £2m for the year to June 2009.

Overall, the Group reported a pre-tax loss of £27m, which included exceptional items related to restructuring costs, and land impairment amounting to £25m. With those non recurring costs removed, the actual net loss before tax was £2m. The Group made a trading profit of £25m in the year to June 2008.

Group turnover for the period fell in line with market conditions, from £420m to £276m. Chairman & Chief Executive, Stewart Milne, is very positive about the Group’s prospects.

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Stewart Milne said: "Market conditions over the past year were exceptionally challenging. However, we are in a healthy position with a very strong balance sheet. We are very well placed to grow and increase our market share.

"The overall loss, whilst disappointing, is largely due to one-off costs of restructuring our business and adjusting the value of some of our land to reflect market conditions. A trading loss of £2m after a profit of £25m last year – also in difficult market conditions – represents an acceptable performance. We are financially secure and well positioned to take advantage of an upturn in market conditions, the evidence of which is already starting to appear."

The Group’s confidence was underpinned by the launch of five new developments in the last two quarters. Sales for 2009/10 have started well with an increase of around 20% over 2008/9. Visitor levels and web traffic are also showing improvements.

Milne concluded: "We are committed to growing our business and increasing market share.

"We are on track to succeed, despite the challenging market conditions we have dealt with over the last two years."

(GK/BMcC)