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Specialist PFI architect Nightingale Associates has warned that the slowdown in government healthcare spending will hit profit in its next set of financial results.

Richard Herrington, Nightingale鈥檚 managing director, said the firm might not make a profit in the year ending March 2007. He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just PFI 鈥� it鈥檚 healthcare in general. The government鈥檚 lack of investment has hit us hard. We were looking at a 拢1m profit but now we鈥檒l be lucky to break even.鈥�

The firm鈥檚 warning comes as its financial results for the year ending March 2006 were posted at Companies House. The figures show a pre-tax loss of 拢105,000 鈥� a 拢449,000 drop from the same period the previous year.

A spokesperson for the Tribal Group, Nightingale鈥檚 parent company, said that accounting rules meant that the architect was still bearing the cost of its acquisition by Tribal, which took place in 2002, in its accounts.

Turnover shot up by 52% last year, from 拢11m in the year ending March 2005 to 拢16.5m for the same period in 2006.

In its preliminary results this year, Tribal acknowledged that the architect had experienced a difficult year. It said: 鈥淭here has been uncertainty over PFI. Large projects have been delayed, resulting in revenue slippage and impacting margins.鈥�

Nightingale is still waiting to hear if its 拢220m Peterborough Hospital PFI scheme for a Multiplex-led consortium will reach financial close. The team was appointed preferred bidder in March 2005 and the architect had expected a decision in late 2006.