Henry Boot has seen a 25% increase in revenue for the first half of the year, but a fall in profit as costs continue to rise.
The land promoter and developer earned £179.8m over the six months, up from £144.4m for the same period in 2022, largely driven by land disposals and housing completions.
However, underlying profit before tax was down to £23.3m from £37.8m – or £25m from £38.8m on a statutory basis.
The group’s land promotion business pulled in the same profit as in H1 2022, at £17m. But profit for its development arm fell from £19.6m to £8.5m. Profit for its construction arm dropped from £6.3m to £4.4m.
Chief executive Tim Roberts said: “The first half of the year has seen our markets slow as interest rates have continued to rise, but, as these results show, our focus on prime strategic sites, high-quality development and premium homes has provided us with a degree of resilience.”
He added that the profit, though lower, was “very respectable”, while an increase in NAV of 3% had given the firm “the confidence” to grow its interim dividend by 10%.
Roberts added: “Whilst uncertainty in our markets has increased, we believe we have enough momentum to carry us through the year, although the outlook for 2024 for the time being is not so clear.”
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