Artisan UK has secured £20m of extra funding to further develop its residential business, despite admitting that the outlook for the sector was unpredictable.
The new funding came as the group published its financial results for the six months to 30 September.
During the period, pretax profit more than tripled to £855,831 while turnover dropped by 37% to £10.7m as a result of £6m on the sale of old Living Heritage projects and £1m of non-core disposals in 2003 not being repeated in the current period.
Chairman Michael Stevens said: “Once again the first six months of the financial year have shown a considerable improvement for the group profitability compared to the equivalent period last year.
“This is largely the result of the improvement in the market conditions for commercial property and our ability to respond to this improvement.”
He added: “Although the residential market has retreated from the recent unsustainable price growth, we continue to invest in residential development land and to seek acquisitions of residential developers to enhance growth.”
Turnover and profits both increased within Artisan’s commercial business parks, caused by a positive shift in occupier demand leading to a strong investment market.
References: EGi News 10/12/04
