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Amid the ongoing troubles in the commercial property market, listed property agent DTZ announced a £79.7 million annual pre-tax loss.
In the year to April 30, revenue dropped 18.4% to £364.1 million. According to the Telegraph newspaper, this is the first loss that DTZ has suffered since the company floated in 1987. The firm made a £5.6 million profit in 2008.
However, the huge loss includes the exceptional items, like £17.3 million of restructuring charges and a £27.3 million writedown relating to the sale of its North American business, therefore DTZ has said its loss before these items stands at just over £35 million.
A rights issue in January raised £48.7 million, after DTZ claimed that if the fundraising failed, it would be forced to default on a loan and could fall into administration.
The chief executive of DTZ, Paul Idzik, the former chief operating officer at Barclays, revealed that the group would scrap its dividend, adding that the last year has been “horrendous.”
He said: “I keep hearing of people sighting green shoots, it's a bit like sighting Elvis.”
Mr Idzik has cut costs drastically at the company, since he was appointed last autumn. 1,504 workers were made redundant in the past year, bringing staff numbers down to 5,575.
Despite securing a new £15 million credit facility from its biggest shareholder Saint George Participations, DTZ has warned that the tough conditions expected for the rest of this year in the commercial property sector will bring an “even greater reduction in staff.”
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