The company posted a loss of £194m on sales of £650m, down from £834m. The dividend falls to 9.3p from 15.6p after its final payment was scrapped. The company also said it has written off £259m from the value of its landbank.

The figures look grim. Net reservations were 55% lower in the six months to June 2008 and forward sales at the end of June 2008 were some 45% down on the same time last year.

"Legal completions in 2008/09 are expected to be substantially lower than the previous financial year," it added.

The group also said its focus going forward is to generate cash and has restricted its activity in the land market to conserve funds. The one good bit of news was that it said it had renegotiated a £450m lending facility with its banks.