Half year results for the six months ended 30 JUNE 2010
- Revenues 27% higher at £776.6m (2009: £611.8m)
- Legal completions increased by 16% to 4,657 (2009: 4,006)
- Average selling price* 8.6% higher at £168,936 (2009: £155,524)
- Underlying operating margin** of 8.0% (2009: 1.6%) – underlying performance continues to be amongst the strongest in the sector. Reported operating margin of 16.9% (2009: 6.0%) after exceptional items
- Reported pre-tax profit*** of £101.4m (2009: £9.8m)
- Underlying pre-tax profits** of £39.4m (2009: loss of £16.7m)
- Due to improving underlying performance, further exceptional release of surplus inventory net realisable value provision of £70.7m (2009: £27.9m)
- Continued strong cash generation: £185.6m cash generated from operations (2009: £152.8m) - net borrowings**** reduced to £122.1m (2009: £494.2m)
- Dividend restored – interim dividend of 3.0 pence per share
- Net assets per share increased by 9.7% to 565.1p (30 June 2009: 515.1p)
- Strong liquidity supported ongoing optimisation of the Group’s debt portfolio: reduction in syndicated loan facility from £600m to £350m and early repayment of over £100m of Senior Loan Notes
- Strong forward sales at 24 August of c.£912m (December 2009: c.£638m) at similar margins to those achieved in the first half: c.95% sold up for the current year
- Total land holdings in line with December 2009 – Owned & under control landbank of 58,957 plots – 4,263 plots added since December 2009, including 1,297 plots from our strategic land portfolio
- Joint venture with St Modwen to initially develop 2,000 plots over the next few years, and 3,663 plots proceeding to contract where terms agreed
* Calculated from nominal value of turnover – before fair value charge on shared equity sales
** Stated before goodwill impairment and exceptional items
*** Stated after goodwill impairment and exceptional items
**** Stated before finance lease obligations and financing transaction costs
John White, Group Chairman, said: "Overall, whilst we currently remain cautious, we are optimistic about the future of our business. We have a strong balance sheet, excellent cash generation, national coverage and an experienced management team."