14th Feb 2019 10:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Housebuilder MJ Gleeson PLC boosted its interim dividend by 28% on Thursday following a strong increase in both revenue and profit.
MJ Gleeson is paying 11.5 pence per share to shareholders for the six months to December, from 9.0p a year before.
Pretax profit climbed 63% year-on-year to GBP22.3 million, as revenue rose 53% to GBP118.3 million.
MJ Gleeson sold 17% more units than the year before, reaching 691, while the average selling price increased 2.4% to GBP127,400 per unit.
The core Gleeson Homes business increased revenue 19% to GBP88.0 million on the strong unit sales growth, though the gross margin did fall slightly due to cost increases.
In the Strategic Land business, there was continued "strong" demand from medium and large housebuilders for large residential sites in the south of England. Revenue rose to GBP30.3 million from GBP26.6 million after the sale of three "larger" sites.
"The group has once again delivered an excellent performance, increasing operating profit in both divisions," said Chair Dermot Gleeson.
"Gleeson Homes' growth plans remain on track. We see no signs of customer caution and demand remains robust.
"Land remains available at sensible prices in both existing and new geographic areas. The two pilot offices in Penrith, Cumbria and Ashington, Northumberland have become full area offices, increasing the number of area offices to ten," he continued.
"Gleeson Strategic Land completed the same number of site sales as in the first half of the prior year, but the sites sold were significantly larger this half. Demand for consented sites remains strong from both large and medium-sized developers."
Looking ahead, MJ Gleeson is on track to "at least" meet full year expectations after what it described as an "excellent" start to its financial year ending June 2019.
Shares were up 3.3% on Thursday morning at a price of 765.76 each.
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