Miller Homes equals operating margin record

Miller Homes has reported a half-year operating margin of 10%, equalling last year’s record for the same period.

The Edinburgh-based housebuilder said turnover for the six months to the end of June 2019 rose by 10% to £389m, with operating profit of £78m, also up by 10%.

Pre-tax profit came in at £55m, up by 19%.

The group said it completed 1,684 homes in the first half, up 13%, and bumped up its owned landbank by 5% to just shy of 10,000 plots, resulting an overall consented landbank of nearly 13,000 plots, or just over four years’ supply.

Last month Miller Homes announced a tie-up with Linden Homes – the housebuilding arm of Galliford Try Partnerships – to build 750 homes on land bought by the two firms near Chichester in West Sussex.

Chief executive Chris Endsor said the first half operating margin performance reflected good trading across its regional markets – the firm operates across the Midlands and the south of England, the north of England and Scotland – and its land-buying approach.

Endsor said the group planned to open a new regional business on Teeside later this year which would become fully operational from the beginning of 2020.

Help To Buy accounted for 33% of its private completions and the group’s average selling price dipped by £5,000 to £243,000, partly to due to sales of 89 homes in a legacy development.

Cost inflation was running at between 3% and 4% annually and plans “were in place” in the event the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

In a statement the group said: “The majority of our housebuild materials (90%) are manufactured in the UK, however a full review has been undertaken with contingency plans in place to ensure the impact on material supplies is mitigated.”

Miller also said it was on track to deliver 4,000 homes by 2021.