Finance experts worry: could it get worse for Fletcher?

Finance experts fear more red ink from Fletcher Building - on top of the $952m of expected losses from a troubled business unit over the past two years.

Matthew Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, questioned yesterday whether the full extent of losses on Auckland's NZ International Convention Centre (NZICC) and Commercial Bay had been accounted for, saying these jobs were only partially built.

Further losses might be on the cards, he said.

That followed revelations that Fletcher's Building + Interiors division will lose almost a $1 billion in a two-year period.

Difficult construction contracts caused losses at B+I of $292m in the year to June 30, 2017, but a further $660m of losses were projected in the current financial year, chief financial officer Bevan McKenzie told a press conference yesterday.

Fletcher chairman Sir Ralph Norris, who had already announced his resignation over the fiasco, cited quantity surveyor estimates as one factor behind the losses and said that these were as much as 100 per cent wrong.

Rising building costs and the flow of communication from management to the board were other reasons for losses - which McKenzie said amounted to $952m during the two years.

The announcement of the losses ended a week-long trading halt and the company, which saw its share price plunge 13.3 per cent when the stock exchange opened yesterday morning. It pared back some of that drop throughout the day, closing down 9.27 per cent at $7.05.

That means the day's trading wiped more than $500m off the company's market capitalisation.

"There's uncertainty," Goodson said yesterday afternoon.

"The NZICC is a very sizeable contract in the $400 million to $500 million range so to lose $410 million is a very significant provision," he said.

"The point about it is the uncertainty given you are only 22 per cent through," he said citing Fletcher's update of progress on the site.