Henry Boot eyes improving second-half of year

Development and construction company Henry Boot has posted a fall in revenue and profit in its half-year results – but its chief executive said a “rock solid” balance sheet has positioned it well for a better second half. Over the six months to 30 June, the group brought in revenue of £106m, down by more than 40% year-on-year, and a pretax profit of £3.7m, a fall of 85%. Chief executive Tim Roberts said: “During the first half of the year we have started to see an improvement in our markets and this, together with our focus on prime land and development, plus premium homes, has helped us to achieve relatively strong property sales. “The lower forward sales with which we started the year has affected our first-half financial performance and, as flagged at the time of our 2023 results, we expect 2024 to be heavily weighted towards the second half. With 81% of budgeted sales already completed, exchanged or reserved, we remain on track to perform in line with market expectations for the full year.” Roberts continued: “We remain confident in our key markets, and have significant latent value in our development and land portfolio which is held at cost, as well as plenty of opportunity to grow in order to meet our stated medium-term targets. This, together with our rock solid balance sheet, underpins our decision to raise the interim dividend by 5%.”