Styles & Wood has stayed in the red during the first half of 2010.
The fit out specialist made a pre-tax loss of £900,000, a slight improvement on the £1.1m loss posted in the same period a year ago.
Revenue fell by almost half to £40.2m (H1 2009: £74.8m).
Its net cash position worsened, with reserves of only £5.3m at 30 June 2010, compared to £8.7m 12 months earlier.
On a more positive note, the order book was up 10% following a drive into the office and banking sector, to offset the continued weakening of the retail sector. Approximately 38% of group revenue for the first half came from office and banking, with new contracts including a deal to refurbish 40 RBS branches.
Styles & Wood's Construction Services business (StoreFit) provided most of the firm's revenue, delivering £32.6m (H1 2009: £64.5m) and an operating profit of £1.1m (H1 2009: £1.8m).
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The Support Services businesses (StorePlanning, StoreCare and iSite) generated revenue of £7.6m (H1 2009: £10.3m), and operating profit of £0.5m (H1 2009: £1.3m).
Ivan McKeever, CEO, expects Styles & Wood to be back in the black by the end of the financial year.
"Trading conditions in our major markets remained difficult in the first half of this year,” he said. “However I am pleased with the progress we have made against our turnaround strategy and despite the extremely challenging market conditions we expect to return the business to profitability in this financial year.
“Margins continue to improve in line with our strategy to focus on profitable projects rather than market share. Importantly we have started to see a return in market confidence in the business, as customers take comfort from the financial strength of the Company.
“Having successfully refinanced the Group in 2009 our objective is to return the business to profitability in 2010 before growing market share in 2011. As the business continues to strengthen the Board is confident that it can deliver on this strategy."
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