Barratt ups annual completions by just 184 homes

Britain’s biggest house builder completed just 184 extra homes last year despite Government efforts to push up the industry’s build rates.

While Barratt said it achieved the highest level of completions in a decade at 17,579 homes, this was just 1.1% up on last year.

In a trading statement for the financial year ending June, the volume house builder set it was set to report a 10% rise in pre-tax profits to a record £835m.

barratt also confirmed it would be paying special dividends of £175m in November 2018 and 2019 completing a five-year plan to return £1.9bn to shareholders.

Chief executive David Thomas said Barratt saw better than expected year-end trading in Central London. Since May it completed sales on 190 homes at an average selling price of £1,190,000.

Now just 145 private flats need to be its wholly owned Central London sites.

This better than expected performance left Barratt with a £790m cash balance, ahead of expectations.

Thomas said: “This has been another strong year for the group, both financially and operationally.”

Total private average selling price rose 5% to £329,000. Continued land purchases saw Barratt build up 3.7 years of supply of owned and consented land and a further 1.1 years of controlled land.

“We continue to drive the business forward with a particular focus on further margin improvement, volume growth and continuing to deliver the highest quality houses across the country.

We begin the new financial year with a healthy forward order book, a strong cash position and a continued focus on delivery of operational improvements across our business,” he added.

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2018/07/11/barratt-ups-annual-completions-by-just-184-homes/

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