Flintshire-headquartered housebuilder, Redrow, has reported a relatively strong first half of its financial year with revenues just over £1bn.
The company has posted its revenue- six months to 2 January 2022 - of £1.05bn, a rise of £11m on the first half of 2021.
Pre-tax profits were also up from the previous first half by £29m, which the group said was achieved with an operating margin of 19.5% similar margins expected for the full year.
It also added 3,316 plots to its current land holdings with a gross development value of around £1.2bn compared to 2,284 plots in 2021.
While house price inflation and a large increase of customers expanding their homes saw the average private selling price of Redrow houses rising by 8% to £419,000.
A strong total order book of £1.5bn shows the housebuilder in a better position from the first half of the last financial year which was at £1.3bn.
It ended the first half year with net cash of £242m, up £4m from £238m in June 2021.
Group chief executive Matthew Pratt said: “Redrow continued to perform strongly in the first half, delivering record revenue for the period, which demonstrates the ongoing success of our strategy.
He added: “By continuing to evolve our Arts & Crafts style Heritage Collection, we have capitalised on strong demand, improved sales margins and continued to invest for growth. The value of our first half reservations was £884m, an increase of 6% on the same period last year, and our total order book increased to £1.5bn, leaving us well placed for the future.”
Speaking on the cladding scandal, Mr Pratt said Redrow shared the UK Government’s desire to resolve the issue.
The housebuilder has announced that it is setting aside an extra £10m to meet the UK Government’s demand for developers to fund the replacement of unsafe cladding on buildings of 11 metres and above.
The move takes Redrow’s total provision to tackle safety concerns on buildings over four floors to £36m.
But Mr Pratt said that it was important that the whole industry played its part in tackling the cladding issue and not just housebuilders.
“We will continue to participate in discussions with the UK Government and all relevant parties to try and resolve this complex issue for the benefit of all leaseholders,” he said.
“We have made a positive start to the second half and are delivering against our strategy. With the ongoing popularity of our Heritage collection, strong land bank, and commitment of our teams across the country, I am confident the business will deliver further progress in the second half."
