23 March 2018 – final results
The land promotion, property development and construction group has announced its annual results for the year to 31 December which have revealed a 33% increase in revenue to £408.5m (2016: £306.8m) whilst pre-tax profits rose by 40% to £55.4m (2016: £39.5m). Earnings per share rose by 49% to 32.1p (2016: 21.5p) and the total dividend for the year was raised by 14% to 8.0p (2016: 7.0p). Net asset value per share at the year end was 203p (2016: 177p). The group remains conservative in its approach and net debt at the year end was just £29.0m (2016: £32.9m) for gearing of just 11%. At the end of the year the group had strategic land acreage of over 13,200 acres compared with just under 11,900 a year earlier. The new financial year has started in a positive manner with a number of land sales already concluded whilst there is also a strong pipeline of construction work and commercial development projects. Although the share price has risen strongly over the last year the shares remain a BUY.