Ashley House PLC (LON:ASH) has said it is expected to turn a profit in its full-year period after narrowing losses in the first six months.
The health and social care property firm said during the six months ended 31 October its health and housing pipeline had grown to 26 schemes with £222.5mln of gross development value, while the pipeline for its modular arm, F1M, had increased to 12 projects with £19.1mln of future value.
WATCH: Ashley House PLC picks up pace of careful diversification
The group added that its joint venture with construction group Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS), Morgan Ashley, had won six extra care schemes over the period with the scheme expected to hold a value of around £60mln.
For the figures, the company reported a narrower pre-tax loss for the six months of £1.7mln compared to a loss of £1.73mln a year ago.
Revenues fell to £4.76mln from £7mln, which the firm said was due to the contributions from its joint venture no longer being included in the revenue figure.
Net debt, however, was cut by more than half to £1.49mln from £3.51mln previously.
In its outlook, Ashley House said it expected to become profitable in the 14 months to 30 June 2019, its new full-year reporting date, however, it added that profits were predicted to be below market expectations.
“Whilst, as last year, a loss has been reported for the first six months of the financial period, also as last year it is expected that this will be more than covered in the second part of the period”, said Christopher Lyons, the firm’s chairman.
“F1M is making good progress and the diversification of the business continues such that Ashley House is becoming a Group operation with two supporting pillars in Morgan Ashley and F1M supplemented by the traditional health activity through Ashley House along with some fledgeling private sale developments and the growth of Partnering Health.”