BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS PLC Half Yearly Financial Report for the six months ended 31 December 2012
Barratt Developments PLC (the 'Company') is today issuing the Half Yearly Financial Report for the Company and its subsidiary undertakings (the 'Group') in respect of the six month period ended 31 December 2012 ('the period').
113% increase in pre-tax profit
First half highlights
Group revenues of £951.1m (2011: £952.8m) and completions of 5,085 units (2011: 5,117 units)
Private completions increased by 5.3% on the prior year to 4,241 units (2011: 4,028 units)
Profit from operations up 32.2% at £80.8m (2011: £61.1m), with operating margin increasing to 8.5% (2011: 6.4%)
Profit before tax increased by 113.4% on the prior year to £46.1m (2011: £21.6m)
Significant increase in approvals to acquire higher margin land, with £453.0m of land acquisitions approved in the period equating to 9,320 plots on 67 sites
Net debt as at 31 December 2012 was £331.7m (31 December 2011: £542.2m) and is forecast to be around £160m at 30 June 2013 (30 June 2012: £167.7m)
Outlook
Strong start to the second half with the Group delivering 0.64 (FY12: 0.61) net private reservations per active site per week (excluding joint ventures)
Private forward sales (excluding joint ventures) as at 24 February 2013 up by 34.0% to £897.7m (26 February 2012: £669.9m)
Joint venture private forward sales as at 24 February 2013 up by 231.0% to £80.1m (26 February 2012: £24.2m)
The Board expects to propose a final dividend for the year ended 30 June 2013
The Board has targets of achieving zero net debt as at 30 June 2015, a dividend cover of around three times for the year ended 30 June 2016 and a substantial improvement in return on capital employed in the medium term
Commenting on the results Mark Clare, Group Chief Executive of Barratt Developments said:
"This has been a good first half performance with a 113% increase in pre-tax profit. Our order book of more than £1.1 billion reflects the strong customer interest we have seen in the early weeks of the year, supported by both NewBuy and better lending conditions. We're continuing to invest in new land to drive the future performance of the business and we expect a further significant improvement in profitability in this financial year."
