Taylor Wimpey’s preliminary results will be pushed back to April and testing of its debt covenants will be deferred a second time owing to difficulties among lenders in agreeing refinancing terms.

The debt-stricken house builder, which has been in talks with about 50 different lenders for nine months after a failed capital raising last summer, said discussions were “at an advanced stage and continue on a constructive basis”.

The company holds £1.55bn in net debt, largely built up as a result of the acquisition of George Wimpey in 2007.

Creditors include a consortium of 15 banks, 27 holders of Taylor Wimpey’s private placement notes and about a dozen holders of its eurobonds due in 2012 and 2019.

It is understood that lenders are reluctant to sign up for the refinancing until they are sure all other parties have agreed to the same terms. That process has been made more complicated by the fact that the holders of the 2019 eurobonds were brought into discussions only last week.

Financial Times. The Times