Announcing its half-year reuslts housebuilder says build costs up 6% year-on-year
Reporting its half-year results today Taylor Wimpey described the UK housing market as stable, with flat pricing, but admitted the South-east was more challenging, notably among more expensive homes.
For the six months to 30 June 2019 the housebuilder reported a profit before tax and exceptionals of £300m, down 9%, on turnover of £1.73bn, up 1%.
Operating profit fell by 9% at £312m, which Taylor Wimpey put down to higher build costs, which were up by 6% year-on-year.
Operating margin fell from 20% to 18%.
The group said it completed 6,541 homes in the first six months, while its total order book of £2.5bn represented 10,558 homes.
Taylor Wimpey said the UK housing market in the first half of 2019 had been stable, “with robust demand”.
It said the South-east had “remained generally more challenging, particularly at higher price points” and pricing overall had been flat in the first six months.
“Whilst there remains a high degree of uncertainty regarding the UK’s exit from the EU, we have not seen any meaningful change in customer confidence or sentiment in 2019 to date,” it added in a statement.
The housebuilder expects volumes to be slightly higher for the full year than in 2018, but operating margin to be lower, due to increased build costs.
Shareholders are being asked if they want to receive a special dividend of £360m next year which, when added to the proposed ordinary dividend, will mean investors will be paid around £610m in 2020.
Taylor Wimpey will announce its results for the year to 31 December 2019 on 26 February 2020.
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