Gleeson sells more homes but profit slips

Housebuilder and land trader Gleeson said consumer confidence is beginning to return in the wake of interest rate cuts.

The firm, which has undergone a restructuring in the past 18 months, said turnover in the year to June edged up 5% to £345m but pre-tax profit slipped 21% to £25m.

The firm was hit with just over £1m of exceptional costs, the bulk of which saw it spend £975,000 on redundancy costs.

Gleeson said net reservation rates have been improving recently and in the 10 weeks to 6 September said the rate was 0.50 per site per week compared with 0.39 per site per week over the comparable period last year, an increase of 28%.

It added that with a number of sites close to achieving planning and in sale processes, Gleeson Land is expected to deliver an improved performance in FY2025.

Chief executive Graham Prothero said: “Gleeson Homes exceeded expectations, completing the sale of 1,772 new homes [up from 1,723 last year] and delivering an operating profit of over £30m.”

He added: “Looking ahead, we welcome the government’s proposed policy reforms with a focus on affordable housebuilding and planning reform, which should benefit both Gleeson Homes and Gleeson Land.

“Having spent the last year and a half on positioning the business for growth and introducing several related strategic initiatives, we now look forward to executing our strategy and delivering our growth target of 3,000 annual completions.”