Model maker Hornby is poised to pull out of plans to build a new visitor centre in Kent as it struggles to meet the terms of its loans with the bank.

The toy firm, which also makes Airfix, Scalextric and Corgi, was given a lifeline from Barclays last week when it waived conditions on its debts for March.

However, the reprieve has only been temporary for the Sandwich-based business, which revealed in February it was at risk of breaking its lending agreement, with expected trading losses set to reach up to £6 million this financial year.

As a result, it could axe plans to relocate its visitor centre from its historic former Margate headquarters, where it was based for more than 60 years, to a £1.6m home in Ramsgate Harbour.

It has already missed its proposed opening date of Easter this year, with bosses putting the project under review while discussions with the bank continue. It comes despite the project gaining planning consent last month.

An announcement on the future of the project is expected in June, when Hornby reports its financial results for the year to the end of March.

According to the Property Management Company in Ramsgate, which brokered the visitor centre deal, there has already been £700,000 spent on the scheme.

Owner Jon Dahms said building the project this Easter “was always going to be ambitious” but insisted construction should start this year.

“We have no reason to believe Hornby are less committed than before,” he said. “I believe the research they conducted on potential visitor numbers exceeded their expectations.”

Only a handful of workers remain at its Margate visitor centre, having moved 150 staff to a new head office in Sandwich in February last year.

Its warehouse operations were transferred to a facility in Hersden, near Canterbury, run by DS Logistics in 2014.

Barclays agreed to waive the covenant of its loan for March after “constructive dialogue” with management at the troubled business, which has released a string of profit warnings in recent years.

Hornby said trading is in line with expectations, with second half sales for the year so far down 2%, although UK business is up 4%.

Executive chairman Roger Canham said: “Recent trading has been encouraging and the board is pleased with the positive like-for-like growth that our core UK business is delivering.”

The company suffered a share price collapse after it wiped £3m off profit forecasts in February. It also wrote off another £1m after a full stock take at its warehouse in Canterbury and review of its European balance sheet.

Its chief executive Richard Ames quit the firm days later.

So far, no construction has taken place on the £1.6 million visitor centre.

The 9,000 sq ft site is in two disused slipways at Ramsgate Harbour, for which the company had agreed the lease on a two-storey refurbished building called The Slipways.

The design of the property was done by Ramsgate architectural practice del Renzio & del Renzio, with the development set to be carried out by Neath Properties, also located in the town.

Plans for the building were unveiled in July, two months after the firm said it was on course to make its first underlying profit in three years.

The firm’s problems began after it suffered heavy losses in 2012 due to issues with its manufacturing supply chain in Asia and poor sales of products during the Olympics.

It raised £15 million last June after switching from the main market on the London Stock Exchange to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), revealing underlying profits of £1.6 million in the year to the end of March 2015, a turnaround from a £1.1 million loss in the previous 12 months.

However, its announcement in February of expected £6 million losses this year saw its chief executive Richard Ames quit and its share price collapse by 70%.