St Modwen, the brownfield land development specialist, on Monday said it was curtailing development and reducing borrowing levels after reporting a loss for the six months to May.

The regeneration group reported a pre-tax loss of £20m ($39.9m), compared with a profit of £65.1m in the same period last year, because of a net writedown of £31.8m due to the fall in the value of its commercial and residential assets.