Henry Boot is on track to meet market expectations for 2022 with a major sale of residential land in Oxfordshire.
The Sheffield-based developer and entrepreneur released its half-year results today, reporting revenue of £144.4 million for the six months to June 30.
This represents an increase of 11.9% on the £129m recorded in the same period last year and produced a pre-tax profit of £38.8m, up 68%.
The increase in turnover is driven by the delivery of real estate developments and land disposals, including the sale of 2,170 plots of land in Didcot to house builders Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes.
Chief Executive Tim Roberts said it was one of the company’s “best first halves”, although reports noted full-year results are expected to be “heavily weighted” in the first half after a “busy summer”.
Henry Boot is expected to make a pre-tax profit of £47.8m in the full year, just below the £49m it recorded before the covid hit in 2019.
The company’s annual results for 2021 saw its pre-tax profit more than double to £35.6m as it rebounded from a difficult period during the pandemic which saw the company downsize.
The company, which operates in the industrial and logistics, residential and urban development sectors, was founded by Henry Boot in 1886.
Earlier this year, the founder’s great-great-grandson, Jamie Boot, stepped down as chairman to be replaced by Peter Mawson, marking the first time in history that the company has gone unmanaged. by a family.
“By leveraging our three key markets, we achieved significant sales while being selective about purchases,” Roberts said.
“This has allowed us to maintain low debt, despite continued investment in our committed high-quality development program and growing homebuilder, and at the same time increase our interim dividend by 10%.”
“We have worked hard to do our best to adapt to supply restrictions, inflation and an increasingly complex planning system.”
The company’s construction business saw profits increase to £6.3m for the six months to June 30 this year (H1 2021: £4.3m), on the basis of revenue of £66.5 million, up 21.6% from £54.7 million in the same period last year.
The company has taken a selective approach to acquisitions, with total purchases of just £10m (2021: £55m) reflecting its decision to slow spending in what it described as “a particularly competitive market for assets” and before “another period of economic uncertainty”.