Churchill unlikely to return to profit for two years

Churchill Retirement has shed nearly 30% of its workforce and is unlikely to return to profit for at least two years.

The housebuilder made 25 jobs redundant last month. That follows two earlier rounds of cuts in October 2007 and April this year. The latest round of redundancies brings the total to 66 out of a total workforce of 230.

Chairman Spencer McCarthy told CJ: "It's purely market driven. We've got plenty of enquiries and visitor numbers are very good, but now it is coming down to confidence. A lot of people just want to sit back and wait and see what happens with the market, particularly the mortgage market.

"It's getting tougher, and the winter is going to be very tough. I don't see any improvement in the next 12 months. In fact, I don't see any return to a net profit for two years."