Henry Boot boss lashes out at ‘consistent failure’ of government

The government’s “consistent failure” to reform the planning system has played to Henry Boot’s land promotion strengths, said chief executive Tim Roberts this morning. Roberts was reporting the group’s full-year results, which saw revenue increase by 5.3% to £359.4m in the year ended 31 December 2023, with pretax profit dipping from £45.6m to £37.3m. Over the course of the year, Henry Boot made £248.5m of land and property sales – largely in line with 2022 – selling 1,944 plots at a gross profit per plot of £15,480. This was up from £6,066 per plot in 2022. The group has some 100,972 plots in its landbank, some 8,501 of which have planning permission and 13,468 that are in planning. Roberts said: “Our focus on high-quality land, commercial property development and housebuilding in prime locations meant that demand for our premium products remained resilient and allowed Henry Boot to perform relatively well against a backdrop of a slowing economy, rising interest rates, high inflation and decreasing volumes in our key markets. “While constraining our ability to bring forward developments in one respect, the government’s consistent failure to make much needed reforms to an increasingly dysfunctional planning system does play to the strengths of our land promotion business while helping underpin demand from national housebuilders, who are still actively acquiring prime strategic sites to shore up their future pipelines.” He added: “The government has consistently failed to carry out much-needed reform of what, I am afraid to say, is an increasingly dysfunctional and under resourced planning system. The delays and uncertainties caused by planning not only affect housing and commercial property, but also investment and productivity in the UK. “The government’s latest updates to the National Planning Policy Framework are at best tactical but may lead to marginally speeding up development plan preparation.” Roberts said the reason its plots with planning permission had fallen over recent years – the 8,501 in 2023 was down from 9,431 in 2022 – was primarily due to difficulties in the planning system. Henry Boot said the “rapid and sustained” rise in interest rates had affected its housebuilding business with new-build sales typically down in volume by 20%. Despite this, said the group, its Stonebridge Homes division had managed to increase volume by 43% and sell at prices slightly ahead of budget. Looking forward, the group is taking a more cautious approach to growth in the housebuilding sector and expects completions to increase by 10% to 275 homes in 2024. “We are not immune from the challenges that the UK economy presents to the near-term trading environment and as previously reported, we expect a lag in performance in the year ahead,” said Roberts. “However, the outlook for both inflation and interest rates is improving and it is beginning to feel as though the UK economy has turned a corner, with recent reductions in mortgage rates also pointing towards a hopefully brighter future.”