UK-Listed Black Sea Property Fund To Postpone Residential Project in Bulgarian Capital

The company will postpone the start of the construction works for its Evergreen project in Sofia which was previously planned to commence this autumn and be completed in 2010.

"Although residential property in Sofia has so far been spared from the effects of the global property downturn, we have recently witnessed a tightening of credit in Bulgaria as well as oversupply in certain market segments and overextended developers," the company's chairman John Chapman said in a statement filed with the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

"Given these facts we have decided that it is prudent to re-evaluate the Evergreen project and determine how best to deploy our large cash position," Chapman added.

The company will retain the property and will decide what to do with it in due course, it said in the statement.

Black Sea Property Fund, which specialises in the development, financing and sale of residential property in Bulgaria's capital, sea and mountain resorts, posted a 1.9 million British pounds ($2.9 million/2.4 million euro) net profit for the first half of 2008, compared to a net loss of 664,000 pounds in the year-ago period.

Also on Friday, another London-listed developer, Bulgarian Land Development (BLD) said it has cut the number of units underwritten off-plan by the company at a project in the Bulgarian ski resort of Bansko aiming to reduce financial risks.

(1 euro = 0.8049 British pounds)