Housebuilder publishes annual results after boardroom shake-up
Profit and revenue were down last year at Strata Homes.
According to the firm’s latest annual results, pre-tax profit for the year ended 1 July 2023 was £4.2m, down from £12.5m the year prior.
Meanwhile, total revenue was down to £149.1m, a reduction of £18.7m on 2022. Revenue included a one-off land transaction of £16m, the profit on which was £6.7m.
According to the firm, the reduction was “driven by lower average selling prices on open market sales and a move into build contracts for private and public landlords that have a lower average selling price”.
Strata said it had been a “challenging year of trading”, with labour and material supply issues, followed by high inflation on the back of the war in Ukraine and high interest rates after Liz Truss’ mini-budget.
“The impact of these sustained higher interest rates and a higher cost of living driven by inflation has been to depress demand for open market sale housing driven by the unaffordability of housing,” it said.
“They also impacted on the cost of homes and the increases of employment costs for the business”.
The firm said that future economic conditions now “appear to be clearer” but that this would not necessarily lead to material improvement for housebuilding. “The outlook is simply more stable with reduced sector activity,” it said.
Total sales in 2023 were 646, up from 518 in 2022, while the group’s cash balance dropped by £29.8m during the year, due to investment in land.
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Strata recently underwent a board-level shake-up, with operations director Vernon Cunningham and finance officer Julian Davis both leaving the firm.
They have been replaced as directors by operations director Martyn Strong and pre-development director Mark Leaf.
Strata did not respond to a request for comment on the changes to its board.
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