Lend Lease posts £270m loss

Australian developer Lend Lease has posted a £270m loss and has warned that it will cut around 1,7000 jobs.

The majority of the job losses are likely to come in the US and Britain, the company said.

"There is no doubt that 2009 is challenging as the effects of the global financial crisis continue to be felt," chief executive Steve McCann said in a briefing on the results.

"Our total workforce of over 12,000 people is expected to reduce to just under 10,000, as we right-size for current market conditions."

"We would expect that (the workforce) would reduce from 11,700, as at December 2008, to somewhere around 10,000," she said. "But a fair bit of that has happened already."