Profits for the year to June slumped from £425m to £137m after taking £254m of one-off charges, including £208m for land bank write-downs and the rest for restructuring.

Profit before tax pre-exceptional costs decreased by 13.0% to £392.3m. Net borrowings were £1.65bn, up from £1.3bn a year earlier but down £86.1m since the end of 2007.

Completions for the full year were 18,588 (2007: 17,168), an increase of 8.3% and turnover rose 16.7% to £3.55bn, but allowing for the inclusion of Wilson Bowden completions fell by 13.8%.

The results coincided with a major incentive package for buyers. Barratt is offering to pay stamp duty on newly purchased Barratt homes valued at less than £500,000, and also has a part-exchange plan where a person buying a Barratt property can sell their existing home to Barratt at fair market value.

The market the company conceded looks dreadful at present with sales over the last four weeks are down 30% on the same period last year.