Henry Boot’s profit has lifted by nearly 70% over the first half of the year, thanks to residential land sales and industrial development.
Profit rose to £38.8m for the six months to the end of June, while revenue rose from £129m to £144.4m.
Tim Roberts, chief executive, said: “We have had one of our best ever first-half years with materially rising profit and good progress achieved against our strategic targets.”
He said Henry Boot’s cautious approach had proved successful. “Taking advantage of our three key markets we have made significant sales while being selective on purchases. This has allowed us to keep gearing low, despite continued investment in our high-quality committed development programme and our growing housebuilder, and at the same time increase our interim dividend by 10%.”
Land sales for the period were high, at 3,447 plots sold, against last year’s 2,288, thanks to a major disposal at Didcot of 2,170 plots. The land bank has been replenished, but “continued delays in the planning system” meant that just 9,615 plots had planning permission, against nearly 13,000 for the same period last year.
However, around 30% of the 11,694 plots currently awaiting determination are timetabled for a decision in the second half of this year.
Roberts added: “We have worked hard to do our best to adjust to supply restrictions, inflation and an increasingly complex planning system. This work, together with our committed team of people and the relatively high level of forward sales for 2023, see us well-placed as we enter what seems yet another period of economic uncertainty.”
Henry Boot has a £1.5bn development pipeline, of which 68% is focused on industrial & logistics.
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