September 4 (SeeNews) - UK-listed Orchid Developments, an international property developer focusing on Bulgaria, said on Friday its first-half net loss narrowed 26.7% to 1.1 million euro ($1.6 million).
The company's revenue rose 7.9% year-on-year to 4.1 million euro in the first six months of 2009, it said in a statement.
"In light of the economic downturn and the lack of funding availability, the Company has limited its ongoing developments to three projects which it believes have the best prospects in terms of market demand and financing availability," it said.
The projects are the retail centre Grand Mall, the multi-use commercial and residential development Orchid Gardens Varna and the residential development Orchid Hills Varna, all located in the Black Sea city of Varna, the country's third-largest.
Last month the company said it has raised some 5.0 million British pounds ($8.2 million/5.7 million euro) aiming to strengthen its balance sheet.
The company, which has also projects in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, reported a net profit of 135,000 euro for 2008, compared to a 3.4 million euro net loss for the previous year. The 2008 profit reflects the sale of a company hotel in the Black Sea resort of Zlatni Pyasatsi, aka Golden Sands, worth 9.6 million euro.
"The company continues to review its other projects with the intention to restart development when market conditions are appropriate," Orchid Developments said without elaborating.
Orchid is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.
($ = 0.7009 euro)