Housebuilder replaces Ian Percy as it reports £3.9m loss

Scottish housebuilder Cala Homes has appointed former Rothschilds executive Anthony Fry as chair to replace former chair professor Ian Percy, who will remain on the board.

Anthony Fry is a non-executive chair of Dairy Crest and senior adviser to investment bank Evercore Partners, and was also formerly a non-executive director at Mowlem for eight years.

The appointment came as the housebuilder, which has legally challenged the government over the abolition of regional housing targets, reported a loss for 2010 of £3.9m on turnover of £172.2m. This compares to a larger loss of £6.2m on £168.9m of sales in 2009.

The group, the UK’s 18th biggest housebuilder, now has net assets of £28m, following its financial restructuring in December last year.

Alan Brown, Chief Executive of Cala Group Ltd, said: “I am delighted that Anthony has agreed to chair the group.  His wider business and financial experience, coupled with his knowledge of the housebuilding and construction industries will be invaluable in helping to guide the Group through the continuing challenges facing the housing market.”

“I am pleased that the hard work and focus of our team, and the better than expected performance of the housing market, has enabled Cala to trade ahead of our plan for the financial year to June 2010. Being ranked as the best housebuilder in the UK in the two very important areas of health and safety and customer service has also been a major plus for us.”