* Net loss nearly four times bigger from year ago
* Revenue up but CEO says market recovery this year unlikely
(Adds details, quotes, shares)
PRAGUE, May 20 (Reuters) - Orco Property Group's (ORCOsp.PR)
(ORCO.PA) first quarter net loss nearly quadrupled from a year
ago as an economic slowdown in central Europe hits its key
markets.
The central European real estate group showed a lossof 45.7
million euros for the first quarter of 2009, much larger than a
restated 12.8 million loss in the opening months a year ago.
Orco has received six-month court protection from creditors
and started talks with a new investor as it struggles under its
debt burden while the region's once-booming property markets
struggle.
The company said on Wednesday revenue grew 16.3 percent to
54.85 million euros in the first quarter from 47.16 million
euros in the first quarter last year, helped by the handover of
pre-sold apartments from last year.
It said it signed 65 forward purchase agreements in the
quarter, down from 157 a year ago.
Demand in central Europe has tumbled as households and
businesses struggle with scarcer credit. Orco said there were
signs that banks were starting to lend more to residential
customers, but warned a quick sector recovery was not near as
property values stagnate or fall.
"Real estate markets in Central European are unlikely to
recover in 2009," said CEO Jean-Francois Ott. "In this adverse
environment, our focus is on revenue generation."
Orco, which operates in the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland,
Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia, started talks last month with
Colony Capital about a 25 million reserved capital hike that
would give the U.S. group an initial 30 percent stake.
The developer was granted six months of creditor protection
in March, extendable to 18 months, during which the company said
it would focus on debt restructuring, mainly renegotiating
several hundreds of million euros in bond repayments.
The company's first quarter interest expenses negatively
impacted the company by 21 million euros in the quarter. It said
that ongoing interest payments on its bonds was suspended due to
the creditor safeguard.
Orco shares have risen 30.5 percent since getting the debt
protection, but still trade down 85.3 percent from a year ago.
The results were released after the stock closed 8.2 percent up
on the day in Prague at 203.9 crowns.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by David
Cowell)
