By Charlie Conchie
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey hiked its profit forecast to the top of full year estimates today after a bumper first half in which it beat housing completion targets.
In a trading update, the FTSE-100 firm said pre-tax profits were up 16.3 per cent on last year to £334.5m despite a five per cent dip in revenues, as slashed costs and widened margins.
Completed homes in the first six months of the year topped 6,790, ahead of guidance.
Boss Jennie Daly said it had been an “excellent” start to the year for the firm against a turbulent economic backdrop.
“This was a very good performance against a strong comparator and only possible due to the hard work of our outstanding teams across the business, and I would like to thank them for their continued commitment and efforts,” she said.
“While we recognise and are closely monitoring wider macro-economic and political uncertainty, housing market fundamentals remain positive, supported by an enduring supply and demand imbalance and good availability of attractively priced mortgages.”
Daly added that demand for homes “remains strong” despite the downturn, and now expect full year Group operating profit “to be around the top end of the current market consensus range”.
There remains good availability of attractively priced mortgages in the market, Taylor Wimpey said in the update, which had kept demand healthy across the country despite the economic downturn.
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