Management at Barratt Developments on Wednesday struck a defiant tone as the ailing housebuilder sought to draw a line under a torrid 12 months and focus attention on shrinking debt and returning to growth.

Unveiling well-trailed preliminary results – sales down to £3.56bn (£4.09bn), pretax profit of £137.3m (£614.9m) and earnings per share of 25p (166.4p) – Mark Clare, chief executive, said the performance was “satisfactory ... in an extremely challenging market”.