Artisan moves deeper into the red

AIM listed house builder and business park developer Artisan said annual pre-tax losses widened as tough trading conditions in the last few years continued into 2011.

Loss before taxation widened to £2.6m in the year ended 30 June 2011 from

£1.9m the same time a year before. Revenue fell to £7.4m from £9.4m previously.

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"The key issues of restricted customer confidence and the shortage of debt funding available to support property transactions remain the overriding features of our principal trading sectors, residential and commercial property development," Artisan said in a company statement.

The group said prolonged difficult market conditions continue to hurt the performance of both the residential and commercial development divisions.

However it added that demand for its product remains relatively high and it has seen improved trading since the 30 June 2011 year end.

Artisan, who will put forward a resolution to delist from the AIM market at the next General Meeting, said it expects to shortly conclude negotiations for new banking facilities which will allow it "to move forward with more certainty."

"However as part of a successful renegotiation of our banking facilities, there will be a requirement for new equity or similar," the group explained.

Looking ahead Artisan said an improvement in market conditions is needed to stimulate higher trading volumes, which in turn will lead to improved profitability.

"We need to trade through old stock to then be able to recycle the funds for investment in current day priced land stocks. A return to normal market volumes with a stable pricing background is more important to the group than seeing any significant increase in property values."

Artisan says it is well placed to capitalise on any market improvement

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