TIMBER frame housebuilder Stewart Milne has seen its fortunes improve despite announcing job losses.

The company, which employs 119 staff in Witney, announced pre-tax profits of £406,000 for the year to June 2011, up from £140,000 last year.

Earlier this month the group announced it was looking for up to 40 redundancies from its timber systems division which, in addition to its Witney workforce, employs another 138 people at sites in Aberdeen and Glasgow.

A month-long consultation period has started at the firm, affecting 66 workers, 33 of them based in Witney.

Group managing director Glenn Allison said: “The past couple of years have been really difficult, but the group has performed very well in the circumstances.”

He added: “The timber systems division is currently undergoing restructuring to meet lower-market demand. Inevitably, during challenging economic times, we have had to make some tough decisions but we continue to focus on our people and strong leadership in our business.”

Turnover dropped from £251m to £239m during the same period.

In a plea to the Government, Mr Allison added: “There is a lack of availability for mortgage funding.

“Efforts to help first-time buyers into affordable homes have not produced enough volume and there is not enough funding for the public and commercial sectors either.”