Fife shop-fitter Havelock Europa makes £5.9m loss

Havelock Europa counts Marks and Spencer among its retail customers

The shop-fitting firm Havelock Europa has announced a pre-tax loss for last year of £5.9m - compared with a profit of £7.7m in the previous year.

The group - which fits out schools, offices and shops - said sales at its retail division fell 47% to £31.9m.

At the same time educational interiors revenue increased by 9%.

The company, which is based in Dalgety Bay, counts Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser, Sainsbury's and Primark among its high-profile customers.

It employs about 1,000 people throughout the UK.

Havelock has issued three profit warnings over the past six months and earlier this year the company's chief executive, Hew Balfour, stepped down.

However, the company said trading had improved since the beginning of this year, with order intake at £34.6m compared with £29.8m in 2009.

Havelock's chairman, Malcolm Gourlay, said: "Since the year end, Havelock has experienced an encouraging increase in the level of enquiries and in new orders received.

"The board believes that it has rectified the operational issues which arose in 2009."