Broadway Malyan hit by £809k of bad debt

The figure fell from £2.2m to £363,828 in the year to 30 April 2009, despite the fact turnover was flat at £43.9m.

Its bad debts totalled £808,749, which the company said were largely caused by liquidity problems in the Middle East.

A company statement said: “These negative issues have inevitably impacted on trading results, which are, as a direct result, disappointing.”

It did not state which clients in the Middle East were bad debtors. Its projects in the region include Commercial City in Dubai and the Al Bandar residential scheme for developer Aldar in Abu Dhabi.

It takes time and money to adjust. the second half of last year was painful for us Peter Crossley, managing director

Redundancy and other staff-related costs ran to £417,717.

Peter Crossley, Broadway Malyan’s managing director, said: “The swift collapse of confidence and activity after the peak of the banking crisis in September 2008 saw a remarkable turnaround in the market, to which we needed to react. It takes time and it costs money to adjust to new market circumstances and the second half of last year was painful for us.”

Despite the problems, the firm ended the year with shareholders’ funds of £5m, which was up from £4.7m last year. The highest paid director took home £376,425, which was down slightly on £383,426 in 2008.

Looking to the future, Crossley added: “We think that there is every reason to be concerned about the market in the UK as fiscal stimulus is withdrawn during the next year and public sector spending is slashed. We are therefore investing in further expansion in Asia, growing our global masterplanning and urban design teams, building on our strong roots in health and education and selling these skills internationally.”