Henry Boot on track despite Brexit uncertainty

Jamie Boot, chairman of Henry Boot
Jamie Boot

Property developers Henry Boot PLC are upbeat about their prospects despite Brexit and wider global political challenges, saying they are on-track to hit targets.

The Sheffield-based company said that the land promotion and property investment businesses had “traded well” in the first five months of the year.

It also said it expects to hand over its £333m Aberdeen development, The Event Complex Aberdeen, in August on time and in line with cost plans, and its Manchester build-to-rent scheme is on track to complete in mid-2020.

It said it had 900 acres of employment land across the UK, following acquisitions in Preston and Wakefield.

Strategic land business Hallam Land had a “solid start” and concluded land sales of more than 1,000 plots on nine sites.

However its plant hire business, Banner Plant, was slightly down on a like-for-like basis through the first quarter.

Henry Boot said this reflected slower construction activity across the UK market. While improved weather conditions have seen levels of activity improve slightly, it said it expected the business to achieve a marginally quieter year than 2018.

Chairman Jamie Boot will make the following statement at the Henry Boot AGM today: ”Given the good start we have made in 2019, and anticipating no major changes to the underlying UK economic conditions arising from both BREXIT and wider global political uncertainties, we expect the Group’s performance for the current financial year ending 31 December 2019 to be in-line with the Board’s existing expectations.”

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