Profit has soared at Cala Group despite a slight dip in house sales, thanks to the acquisition of luxury housebuilder Banner Group and soaring prices.
The Patron Capital and Legal & General-backed builder posted pretax profit of £27.3m in the year to 30 June, a 117% increase on the previous year.
While Cala sold 677 houses – down from 694 in 2013 – prices rose by more than 25% to £423,000.
The company attributed the increase to a change in site mix, sales inflation and the higher prices achieved by Banner, the company it acquired March this year.
Banner’s average sales price in the year to May 2013 was £511,000.
Cala’s aggressive expansion plan has also seen its net debt rocket over the period – rising from £40.5m in 2013 to £141.6m at the end of June, a 249.6% increase.
Cala Group chief executive Alan Brown said: “This year has been a transformational period for Cala with our excellent financial performance delivering record profits once again. Following another year of significant investment in our landbank and our acquisition of Banner Homes in March, Cala is now an established, top-10 UK housebuilder by revenue and, with the bulk of the Banner integration now complete, our focus is on driving the increased synergies and benefits of scale we have identified.”
