The priority for Quintain Estates and Development, the regeneration specialist, is survival. The group, which has construction projects around Wembley Stadium and the Greenwich Peninsula, said that it was experiencing the most difficult conditions, as it reported a 28 per cent fall in net asset value and a big first-half loss.

Its big London regeneration projects at Wembley and Greenwich were written down in value by 30 per cent.

Quintain was worth £1.25 billion at its peak last year. It is worth just £48 million today. The falls in valuation increased Quintain's gearing from 60 per cent to 90 per cent in the six months to September 30. The company said that it still had headroom as its banking covenant is 110 per cent, implying a cushion of £127 million.

Despite the gloomy figures, Adrian Wyatt, Quintain's chief executive, said he was confident that the company would survive the downturn. “We are cutting costs, repatriating cash and getting ready to maximise the opportunities, when they come up,” he said.

An analyst with Arbuthnot Securities said: “The fear, of course, was that the company might go bust. There is a sense of relief that there is nothing scary in the figures.”

Quintain has limited its number of building sites, has cut costs of staffing and overheads and has sold land and property to raise cash. Mr Wyatt said: “Some of this stock was acquired during the last recession in the early 1990s, so there was still value in selling it.”

Quintain also said that it was in early talks with equity partners for its Wembley site.

Mr Wyatt said that he was taking a long-term view of Quintain's assets and land holdings. “There is a dire need for new houses in London and there is a need for regeneration,” he said. “We are not complacent, but we have lots of ideas and are committed for the long term.”

Quintain had a £52 million pre-tax loss in the half year to September 30, after a £4 million loss a year earlier.

Quintain's shares have, over the past year, underperformed other listed UK property companies by 87 per cent.

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