Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. said Thursday it will seek yet another bank bailout as it slid into negative net worth of 33 billion yen during the fiscal first half.

Details of the latest round of financial assistance have not been determined. But company executives said the firm plans to issue preferred shares through a third-party allotment to its main lenders.

The construction firm is believed to be in talks with Sumitomo Mitsui Bank and other main lenders.

In results for the April-September period announced Thursday, the company reported a net loss of 43.18 billion yen after it wrote down the value of its assets, including real estate properties held for commercial purpose.

Revenue slid 12.6 percent to 249.36 billion yen, as it suffered a downturn in public works projects.

As a result, the company fell into negative net worth, in which liabilities exceed the firm's assets. This theoretically means lenders and shareholders cannot recoup their loans and investments.

To pull itself out of its financial hole, the company said it will seek a capital injection through the issuance of the preferred shares by the end of the current fiscal year in March.

The company was established in April in a merger of Mitsui Construction Co. and Sumitomo Construction Co. The two firms had received financial assistance from banks.

Company executives stressed that excluding one-time factors, it is turning out profits in its core business, and the financial assistance is necessary only as the result of front loading the clearance of financial issues, including the write down of its properties.

According to the accounting rules, from fiscal 2005, companies are required to write down their properties when their market value is deemed considerably lower than that in the book. The amount of write down is booked as a loss for the period.