£7m pre-tax loss for Ballymena construction firm
One of Northern Ireland's largest construction firms has reported an annual pre-tax loss of more than £7m.
The details are contained in Ballymena-based Patton Group's 2011 accounts.
It is an improvement on the £10m loss in 2010 and the directors said it had been "an improving year" in "a very difficult trading environment".
The firm's bottom line was hit by a combination of a reduction in the value of its development land and restructuring costs.
Turnover rose 8% to just over £176m and returned an operating profit of £2m.
However, that was wiped out by a £5m writedown in the value of development land, £1m in redundancy costs and a £2m inter company loan write off.
Over the year the number of staff fell from 494 to 409 reducing staff costs from £18.5m to £15.7m.