Barratt brings forward 3x cover target

DividendMax Ltd.

Barratt brings forward 3x cover target

First half housing completions at highest level in five years

·      Significant increase in output with the Groupresponding quickly to uplift in consumer demand

·      Strong, broad based recovery with higher sales rates across all areas of the country

·      Continued investment in high return new development opportunities across the UK with 11,394 plots approved in the half year

·      Disciplined approach has delivered significant progress on ROCE at 14.2% for the 12 months to 31 December 2013

·      Recruitment target for apprentices, graduates and trainees increased to 1,100 over three years

 


Half year ended

31 December 2013

Half year ended

31 December 2012

Change

Total completions(3)

6,195

5,194

+19%

Revenue

£1,264.9m

£951.1m

+33%

Profit from operations

£139.5m

£80.8m

+73%

Operating margin(4)

11.0%

8.5%

+250bp

Profit before tax

£120.4m

£45.9m(5)

+162%

Basic earnings per share

9.5p

3.4p

+179%

Interim dividend per share

3.2p

-

n/a

ROCE

14.2%

9.0%

+520bp

 

Outlook

·      Very strong start to the second half with 0.76 (2013: 0.64) net private reservations per active site per week over the last eight weeks

·      Net private reservations up 30.2% at 0.69 (2013: 0.53) per active site per week for the financial year to date

·      Total forward sales as at 23 February 2014 up by 56.2% to £1,748.1m (24 February 2013: £1,119.1m)

·      Expect to deliver full year profit towards the top end of the range of current analyst estimates

·      Interim dividend payment of 3.2 pence per share reflecting the move to three times dividend cover, two years ahead of target. For the three years to FY16 total dividend payments expected of around £365m based on current analyst estimates

Companies mentioned