Loss stands at £20m ignoring exceptional profits from sale of subsidiary

Galliard has recorded a pre-tax loss of £11.3m on increased turnover.

In its results for the year ended 31 March 2024, released this week, the company reported income of £234m, roughly 40% up from £167m in the year prior.

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Galliard’s JV acquired the Morden Wharf development from LandsecU+I and the Morden College last year

The pre-tax loss was actually marginally smaller than in its 2023 results, when it had stood at £12.8m.

However, that year the London-focused housebuilder had recorded a pre-tax profit of £11m when ignoring exceptional items.

In its accounts this year, by comparison, exceptional profits meant that the company’s losses were even more severe after removing exceptional items from consideration.

It made a pre-exceptional pre-tax loss of £20.2m, owing largely to exceptional profits on the sale of its 64% shareholding in the letting and management agency Life Residential.

“Fluctuations in profit, year-on-year, have always been a feature of the group’s performance simply because of the varied nature of its activity,” the company said in its strategic report.

>> Read more: Galliard Homes joint venture acquires 1,500-home Greenwich Peninsula scheme 

Chairman Stephen Conway said challenges had “remained unchanged since last year”, explaining that “cost-of living pressures, led by mortgage rates” had “inevitably had a negative impact on new home sales”.

He added that he expected the housing market to “remain challenging during the rest of 2024 and 2025”.

The company’s provisions for the year were increased from £39.6m the previous year to £45.8m.  

This largely reflected an increase in the amount held as provision for “claims against the group” (from £3.75m to £16m), while provisions related to remediation works dropped slightly from £26.9m to £22.5m.

As of 31 March 2024, the group had 11 sites in Greater London with planning applications either in preparation, in progress or on appeal. The group also has an interest in 14 sites outside of its nucleus in the capital.

Conway said Birmingham “continues to be a significant area of growth” outside of London, with the firm having first moved into the city in 2018.

In late 2023, the housebuilder embarked on a new joint venture with City Developments, a Singaporean real estate company. 

The joint venture has purchased Morden Wharf in Greenwich, an industrial site with outline planning for around 1,500 homes.