Speymill, the AIM-listed property fund manager and contractor controlled by Jim Mellon, today asked for its shares to be suspended pending clarification of its financial position.

The company blamed the move on the ‘continuing uncertainty for Speymill Contracts and the group as a whole’.

As well as its construction arm, Speymill Contracts, it manages two AIM-listed overseas property funds, Speymill Deutshe and Speymill Macau, it has an asset management company GOAL and a retirement village joint venture.

The company, which is 44.8% owned by chairman Jim Mellon, warned it would make a ‘substantial’ loss before and one-off charges, ‘which has yet to be quantified’, for 2008.

‘The worsening macroeconomic environment has further affected Speymill Contracts,’ it explained. ‘The results of Speymill Contracts have now been impacted by additional client and sub-contractor administrations, combined with further margin slippage on other projects due to the current environment.

‘Exceptional items will, as previously advised, include a charge to adjust the carrying value of goodwill relating to the group's investment in Speymill Contracts and will also include a charge to recognise committed reorganisation costs in that company.’

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