Property group pins its hopes on signs of an economic recovery
Sheffield-headquartered property investor and developer, Henry Boot, says healthy demand for its offering means it has performed resiliently as the group releases unaudited results for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Henry Boot reported a 5.3% increase in revenue to £359.4m (2022: £341.4m) driven by land disposals, property development and housing completions and profit before tax of £37.3m (2022: £45.6m).
The group completed £248.5m (2022: £241.9m) of land and property sales over the same period and sold 1,944 plots (2022: 3,869).
Tim Roberts, chief executive officer, said the business had performed “relatively well” against a backdrop of a slowing economy, rising interest rates, high inflation and decreasing volumes in its key markets.
He added: “While constraining our ability to bring forward developments in one respect, the Government’s consistent failure to make much needed reforms to an increasingly dysfunctional planning system does play to the strengths of our land promotion business while helping underpin demand from national housebuilders, who are still actively acquiring prime strategic sites to shore up their future pipelines.
“This alongside some well timed development disposals and Stonebridge Homes increasing house sales by 43%, helped deliver a resilient performance.
“We are not immune from the challenges that the UK economy presents to the near-term trading environment and as previously reported, we expect a lag in performance in the year ahead.
“However, the outlook for both inflation and interest rates is improving and it’s beginning to feel as though the UK economy has turned a corner, with recent reductions in mortgage rates also pointing towards a hopefully brighter future.”
