Aberdeen-based firm placed on the market ahead of ‘dramatic’ profit increase

Housebuilder Stewart Milne has been put up for sale as its founder and long-term chair makes retirement plans.

The Aberdeen-based firm, which posted a turnover of nearly £270m in the pandemic-impacted year to 31 October 2020, has been placed on the market just months after selling its £100m-turnover timber systems business to the Donaldson Group.

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Company founder and chair Stewart Milne is retiring

The news follows the company announcing £120m of losses in its last two published annual accounts.

Stewart Milne posted a pre-tax loss of £71.5m in 2020 after recording a £59.2m write-down to account for land value falls and restructuring costs, it also saw turnover drop by 13%, on a like-for-like basis, to £270m. The firm reported a £48m loss in the preceding, 16-month accounting period.

However, the group says it will be reporting a “dramatic increase in turnover and profits” in its accounts for the year to 31 October, although it has not quantified this.

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Stewart Milne said: “We are superbly placed to capitalise on the favourable market conditions and demand which are set to continue in the near-term.” 

Stewart Milne has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester and employs around 1,000 people including sub-contractors. It has around 20 developments under construction in Scotland and north-west England. It sold 836 homes in the year to 31 October 2020.