25th Mar 2025 12:52
(Alliance News) - Henry Boot PLC on Tuesday reported its annual results, which included decreased revenue and profit amid "a challenging start to the year".
The Sheffield, England-based property development, home building and construction company said profit for 2024 totalled GBP30.7 million, down 18% from GBP37.3 million in 2023.
Revenue fell 8.6% to GBP328.4 million from GBP359.4 million. Henry Boot attributed this to reduced turnover in its construction segment, although it was somewhat offset by increased sales from Hallam Land, its land promotion business.
The company's return on capital employed for the year was 8.0%, down from 9.9%. Henry Boot said however that it remains confident of achieving returns within its 10% to 15% medium-term target range.
However, net asset value per share increased 3.6% to 317 pence at the end of 2024 from 306p one year prior.
Shares in Henry Boot were nonetheless trading 2.1% lower at 207.65p each on Tuesday afternoon in London.
The company also proposed a final dividend of 4.62p per share for the year, up 5.0% from 4.40p. This increased the total dividend by 5.0% to 7.70p from 7.33p.
"As anticipated, after a challenging start to the year we delivered a strong second half which allowed us to report results in line with expectations," Chief Executive Officer Tim Roberts commented. "In particular, demand for our high quality land, prime development and premium homes has remained resilient.
"This led to us successfully completing almost GBP350 million in land and property sales...Our investment portfolio also recorded another period of outperformance, with a total return of almost 10% for the year, meaning it has returned more than double the index over the last five years."
The exact total property return was 9.9% for 2024, ahead of the 7.7% return from the CBRE UK Monthly Index.
The company furthermore noted its buyout of Stonebridge Homes; its work to strengthen the Hallam Land team; and its formation of the Origin joint venture which "will help us to accelerate the delivery of our institutional quality industrial development pipeline".
CEO Roberts further noted that Henry Boot expects recent interest rate cuts to stimulate residential and commercial demand.
"While this is positive for the group, there will be a lag between increased activity and the timing of key transactions and, as a result, we expect 2025 results will again be heavily second half weighted," he added.
Nonetheless, Roberts concluded: "We continue to make good progress towards hitting our medium term growth and return targets."
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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