15th Sep 2021 08:56
(Alliance News) - Redrow PLC on Wednesday reported a rise in full-year earnings but has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, as the FTSE 250 housebuilder warned that the buoyant UK property market is moderating.
Revenue in the financial year that ended June 27 surged 45% to GBP1.94 billion from GBP1.34 billion the previous year. Pretax profit more than doubled to GBP314 million from GBP140 million.
But revenue remains 8.1% off the GBP2.11 billion made in the 2019 financial year, while pretax profit was down 23% from the GBP406 million recorded two years ago.
The firm declared a final dividend of 18.5 pence per share, bringing the full-year total to 24.5p per share. The company paid no dividend in financial 2020 because of the pandemic, and paid a total of 30.5p per share for financial 2019.
Shares were down 0.7% to 695.47 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
Redrow said it benefited from surging house prices in the UK, with the stamp duty holiday and help-to-buy scheme fuelling demand. It said its premium Heritage Collection houses have been particularly popular during the pandemic, as buyers seek more space.
But the housing market has moderated in recent months and the company expects sales rates to return to historic averages in financial 2022. Still, Redrow said it ended the financial year with a record order book of GBP1.43 billion, meaning GBP1.3 billion revenue is already secured for financial 2022.
Redrow resumed medium-term guidance, saying it will make more than GBP2.2 billion revenue in financial 2024. Earnings per share are expected to be at least 90p, up from 73.7p in financial 2021 but less than the pre-pandemic 92.3p. The consensus is for 90.8p EPS in financial 2024, Liberum analyst Marcus Cole said in a note.
"On the whole this is another positive housebuilder update, which should help trump investor fears," Cole added.
Redrow Chair John Tutte said: "The group delivered an excellent performance in the year to the end of June 2021 with better than expected results."
By Ivan Edwards; [email protected]
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RDW.L