Profit and revenue down at Taylor Wimpey as fire safety provision rises

Pre-tax profit was down at Taylor Wimpey in 2024 as the housebuilder racked up costs addressing historic fire safety issues.

In its full-year results for the year ended 31 December 2024, published this morning, the firm revealed pre-tax profit of £320m, down 32.4% from the £474m recorded the year prior.

Operating profit was also down 11.5% in the year from £470m to £416m. As was revenue, which fell to £3.4bn, down 3.2% from £3.51bn.

According to an analyst note from Stifel, the full-year results were in line with guidance, with revenue hit by fewer completions and lower selling prices.

The group, including its joint ventures, completed 10,593 homes in the year, down slightly from 10,848 in the year prior.

In its full-year results presentation, Taylor Wimpey said its operating profit for the year had been impacted by build cost inflation and lower pricing of 2024 completions.

Pre-tax frofit was impacted by exceptional costs in the year before tax, which stood at £98.2m, with the majority stemming from provisions related to fire safety issues.

They consisted of a £68.9m increase in provision for cladding fire safety, a £13.6m loss on disposal of the Winstanley and York Road joint venture, and the impact of the firm’s share of the cladding fire safety provision recognised in the Greenwich Millenium Village joint venture, worth £15.7m.

During the year, £28.5m was spent on remediation works.

The net private sales rate was up, standing at 0.75 homes per outlet per week in the year, compared with 0.62 in 2023, while the average selling price was down at £319,000 from £324,000.

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Taylor Wimpey’s net cash position declined 16.7% from £678m to £565m.

Despite declines across a range of metrics in 2024, the firm said it was well positioned for growth this year. Jennie Daly, chief executive, said the start of the spring selling season had been “robust” and that affordability was “moving in the right direction”.

She also pointed to the government’s ambitious plans for housebuilding as reason for optimism. “We look forward to seeing increased resources and a focus on the implementation phase to drive these outcomes and deliver much-needed new homes across the UK.”

Taylor Wimpey said it was “optimistic that these changes to the planning system should help unlock the land needed to support homebuilding in coming years”.

It said that the changes could put the land market “on a similar footing to that of 2012 to 2019 when land conditions were supportive of industry growth”.

The firm said it expected to deliver full year completions in 2025 of between 10,400 and 10,800, excluding joint ventures.