9th Jul 2014 06:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - Housebuilding and construction business Galliford Try PLC Wednesday said it has continued to make progress since publishing its interim management statement in May and expects pretax profit to be at the upper end of analysts' current range of GBP92.8 million to GBP95.2 million.
On May 14, the company said it made a strong start to 2014 and expected to report pretax profit for its full-year to June 30 above analysts' consensus of GBP89.7 million and not less than GBP92.0 million.
Galliford said Linden Homes, its housebuilding arm, has performed strongly this year, achieving an increase in prices and adding to its landbank. It said its sales rate in the second half of the year averaged 0.73 per site per week, compared with 0.67 per site per week a year earlier.
The company said the year-end sales carried forward position for the housebuilding arm rose 11% to GBP348 million from GBP313 million a year earlier. The landbank now totals 13,900 plots up from 11,300 plots a year ago.
FTSE 250-listed Galliford said its construction business has also made progress this year with an improved order book of GBP1.4 billion, compared with GBP1.25 billion in December. During the year the construction arm was awarded a number of projects including the GBP38 million Forbury Place development in Reading.
In addition, it said 84% of revenue for the new financial year has been secured compared with 82% a year ago.
"We welcome the government's continuing commitment to housing provision, and the focus of the Bank of England on maintaining stability in the housing market," Chief Executive Greg Fitzgerald said in a statement. "In addition the prospect of timely interest rate rises should support a sustainable market into the longer term".
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Galliford Try