Miller interim profit statement vanishes

Housebuilder and developer Miller Group has stopped publishing its interim profit, ending a decade-long practice of reporting the figures.

The company revealed that it will now only release annual figures, according to the Scotsman.

The privately-owned firm had previously operated like a plc, sending out a half-year results statement in September and updates in January before full annual results in the spring.

But analysts said the changes in reporting policy were more likely to be as a result HBOS buying an undisclosed share in the business in April, rather than fears of reporting poor performance.

HBOS has a stake in a number of housebuilders and is understood to prefer to keep company information in-house.

The newspaper also reported that 35 people in Miller's housebuilding division lost their jobs last week, with a further 30 jobs lost in its commercial property division over the summer.

Sources have previously told CJ that job losses at the company could be as high as 200.

Miller Group repeated its statement that it "never comments on internal employee matters".