Low-cost house builder confident of sustainable growth
Low-cost house builder and strategic land specialist, M J Gleeson has said it is confident of delivering “further sustainable growth” in a trading update for the year ended 30 June.
The business notes it expects pre-tax profit to be in line with that achieved in 2019 when it saw pre-tax profits rise to £41m.
The Sheffield-based group operates two divisions – Gleeson Homes, which develops and sells affordable housing, predominantly to first time buyers in the North and Midlands, and its land promotion business, Gleeson Strategic Land, which promotes land (predominantly in the South of England) through the planning for sale to residential developers.
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The trading update noted that the housebuilding business completed a new record number of sales over the year, 1,812 an increase of 69% compared with the previous year and more 18.5% more than in the pre-Covid year to June 2019.
As a result of this increase the board remains confident in delivering 2,000 new home sales in the next financial year to June 2022, and has a pipeline of 15,863 owned or conditionally purchased plots across 152 sites.
The group’s land promotion division which was reported earlier this year to be “experiencing strong demand” sold eight sites over the year with the potential to deliver 1,978 new homes and has started the new financial year with a six sites with planning permission, three of which are in the process of sale.
Its wider porfolio includes 71 sites with the potential for 22,315 homes and 44 acres of commercial land.
James Thomson
James Thomson, chief executive office at M J Gleeson said: “I am pleased to announce that pre-tax profit is expected to be in line with that achieved in 2019, our last financial year before the impact of the pandemic.”
“Gleeson Homes remains on track to sell 2,000 high quality, low-cost homes in the year ahead.”
“With a strong pipeline of sites in both our Gleeson Homes and Gleeson Strategic Land divisions, we begin the new financial year confident of delivering further sustainable growth for all our stakeholders.”
The market update comes after the business secured an additional £35m of funding to help the business meet its objective of growing the business beyond its target of 2,000 homes a year.
