Highlights
Significant increase in housing completions with the Group (7)responding to sustained strength in consumer demand across all areas of the country
Private average selling price increased by 12.9% to £241,600 (2013: £213,900) driven by further changes in mix and some house price inflation
Profit before tax more than doubled to £390.6m (2013: £192.0m before exceptional items)
Strong cash generation resulting in net cash at 30 June 2014 of £73.1m (2013: £25.9m net debt), the first net cash position for eight years
Continue to secure excellent land opportunities approving 21,478 plots for purchase and increased Group's controlled land supply to 4.7 years
Return on capital employed target and medium term Capital Return Plan
ROCE up 800 basis points to 19.5% (2013: 11.5%) with new ROCE target set of at least 25% for FY17
Ordinary dividend set at three times cover with final dividend proposed of 7.1 pence per share, giving a total ordinary dividend of 10.3 pence per share
Special cash payment programme expected to return an incremental £400m to shareholders in the three years to FY17, with the first payment of £100m in November 2015
Outlook
A return to more normal seasonal trends following exceptionally high levels of activity post the launch of Help to Buy in April 2013
Private forward sales as at 7 September 2014 at £1,145.6m (2013: £880.4m) up 30.1% on the same point last year
Commenting on the results Mark Clare, Group Chief Executive of Barratt Developments PLC said:
"This significant improvement in performance has been driven by the £3.8bn we have committed to land investment since mid-2009, together with the recovering market and improvements in design, quality and efficiency. Our disciplined approach will support a further significant increase in performance this year and we are now targeting a return on capital of at least 25% by FY17. Our special cash payment programme for the next three years combined with our ordinary dividend, is expected to return around £950m of cash to our shareholders."
