WAIN Homes is among many housebuilders that have reviewed costs and made redundancies as profits have slumped.

No such belt-tightening for directors Bill Ainscough and Stephen Owen, however, as they took £5.8m out of the business in dividends.

The payments were up on the 2007 figure of £5.1m, although pre-tax profits slipped from £24m that year to £15.2m in 2008.

The Warrington company’s 187 employees shared £6.7m in wages. Mr Ainscough, also owner of commercial property group Langtree, is estimated to be worth over £220m. In his annual report for Wain, he stated: “The mortgage lending conditions which contributed to buoyant demand over the 10 years to 2007 may take a long time to return, if ever. We have reorganised our business to adjust for the changed conditions. We have as part of the reorganisation made some good staff redundant, which is regrettable.”

Group sales, not surprisingly, were down from £96.7m to £82.4m, with the housing market at the sharp end of the credit crunch. Stephen Owen, chief executive, said: “The industry as a whole has had to deal with over a 50% reduction in demand. The downturn arose over a very short period of time and high stock levels have led to some very aggressive discounting industry-wide as the larger housebuilders push for positive cashflow at the expense of margin. “This has placed pressure on our gross margins.

“Our relatively low exposure to apartments has contributed a degree of resilience, but lower volumes and higher marketing costs have impacted on operating margins.

“We have completed a £200,000 rationalisation of the North West businesses and reviewed our overheads in the South West.

“It is our view that the difficult market conditions will persist for some time. While the business has gone through a reorganisation we have retained our land teams to take advantage of opportunities.”

BARRY TURNBULL