23rd Jul 2015 08:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Brownfield residential property developer and housebuilder Inland Homes PLC on Thursday said trading in the financial year to the end of June was robust, with pretax profit set to be significantly ahead of market forecasts.
Inland said its performance in the year to the end of June was "extremely strong", with pretax profit set to be significantly ahead of the market consensus forecast of GBP12.7 million on June 17. The group said trading in the first half was driven by its housebuilding activities, with the second half then boosted by profitable land sales.
Inland said it completed the sale of 287 residential homes over the course of the year, up from 189 a year earlier, with 31% of the open market units sold using the UK Government's Help to Buy scheme. Inland has a medium-term target of hitting 500 residential sales a year. It currently has 195 units under construction across seven sites and has a forward sales book of GBP30 million.
The group added demand for its consented plots within its land bank is strong, with 435 residential plots sold in the second half of the year for GBP39 million. Inland has continued to strengthen its land bank and said it now has more than 5,000 plots on its books.
"Inland is fast becoming the brownfield regeneration specialist of choice with major institutional and corporate land owners. We have established an enviable track record as a leading developer of homes and creating vibrant new communities on sites which were previously derelict and redundant," said Stephen Wicks, Inland's chief executive.
Brownfield development reuses land previously developed, often switching to residential from industrial use.
"The group is now on a significant growth path which we believe will create further substantial value for our shareholders," Wicks added.
Inland shares were up 3.1% to 71.00 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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