Sir Roy Gardner, chairman of Connaught, has made a paper loss of more than £500,000 since being appointed in May

Since then, Gardner has bought 208,000 shares in the firm in two tranches at a cost of £556,000.

As Building went to press his shares had a nominal value of £32,300, a loss of almost £524,000.

The firm has lost 95% of its value in the past three months, following Friday’s profit warning, which was the second of the year.

Two major Connaught investors, US hedge fund Breeden and Norges Bank, sold stakes worth more than a tenth of the firm’s value this week as concerns deepened, both making losses of millions.

The firm is rumoured to be looking to sell its social housing business as part of Gardner’s rescue attempts, along with speculation its lenders may undertake a debt-for-equity swap.

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