Watkin Jones has said its underlying profit for the year will “break-even”, after previously warning it would be unlikely to top £2m.

The troubled student housing and build-to-rent developer, in a trading update for the year to 30 September, said it now expects its underlying profit before taxes and interest, which excludes one off items, will “approximately” break even. It had previously said it would unlikely improve on the £2m in underlying profit recorded for the first half of the year.