Henry Boot on solid ground as it raises full year expectations
Construction firm Henry Boot said it expects profits to be “comfortably ahead” of previous expectations after a strong 2017, boosted by demand for its residential schemes and rapid delivery of projects.
The group said the final two months of 2017 saw a continuation of the trends seen earlier in the year, with strong trading activity experienced across all business segments.
Activity was buoyant both in deal completions for 2017 and in the progression of new opportunities for 2018 and beyond, it said.
Meanwhile, construction work flow at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre continued to plan throughout the last two months of the year and Stonebridge Homes, its JV house builder, completed sales of 38 homes, equating to 48% of its output for the year.
Henry Boot said: “Finally, the group has now received the draft 2017 year end valuations of the group’s property portfolio which, despite gains on industrial properties, was below our expectations following a reduction in the values of mixed-use secondary retail properties within the portfolio.
“Taking into account the above, the board now expects profit before tax and earnings per share for the year ended 31 December 2017 to be comfortably ahead of the board’s previous revised expectations as set out in the group’s October 2017 trading update.”
The news follows the Sheffield-based construction firm’s announcement in October in which it said it expected the group’s performance for the year to the end of December to be “materially ahead” of expectations due to accelerated completion of transactions in September and October, and the successful delivery of major development schemes through the second half of the year.
The statement sent Henry Boot’s share price soaring to its highest level in a decade.
John Sutcliffe, chief executive, said: “2017 was another very successful year for Henry Boot. We capitalised on strong demand for our residential schemes and delivered a number of projects more rapidly than anticipated, giving rise to increased profits in 2017.
“Furthermore, with the strong level of committed and contracted activity that we expect to deliver in 2018, we anticipate a trading performance for the current year slightly ahead of management expectations.”
