Valto is the renamed company formerly registered as Cusp Ltd.

The trading and financial results for the most recent 18- month period contain the consequences of a series of organisational changes and, more starkly, the assessed impact of the fall in property values affecting a group of companies with extensive property holdings and significant on-going property developments, some ready to seek buyers in a much-changed environment.

Through a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures the group holds controlling interests in Culzean Estates and Turnus Ltd which, in turn, links to Junction One and a major hotel and apartment development. The group also owned Bishopsgate Shopping Centres and, in the last trading period, sold its interests in Waterside Crescent and, in England, Kendal Rivereside.

A feature of the changes during the latest trading period was a transfer of a small shareholding from each of two joint ventures which seems to have brought them directly into the accounting framework of the group. This resulted in a reduction in the balance sheet values of the assets of joint ventures and an increase in the tangible fixed assets of the group.

Major developments in the last 18-month period relate to unwelcome property transactions and revaluations. In common with many property companies, year-end accounts need to offer an assessment of the implications of the big fall in value for most property holdings.

The overall impact is apparent in the change in the balance sheet value of shareholders' funds from September 2009 to March 2011. The balance sheet value of shareholders' funds fell from £95m in September 2009 to just £21m in March 2011.

To the credit of shareholders and funders this private company continues to trade in an unexpectedly difficult market.