Taylor Wimpey’s profit has almost halved and revenue has fallen by 21% as the number of homes built has fallen.
The housebuilder completed 5,120 homes over the first six months of the year, down from nearly 7,000 in the same period last year.
Revenue for H1 was £1.64bn, down by 21.2% on the £2.08bn from the same period in 2022. Operating profit of £235.6m was down by 44.5% on H1 2022’s £424.6m.
Taylor Wimpey’s profit margin also sank from 20.4% to 14.4%, reflecting both the lower level of completions and the impact of build cost inflation. The company said this was not fully offset by rising house prices.
Chief executive Jennie Daly said: “The first half of the year has been characterised by variable market conditions, including substantially higher mortgage rates. While this has inevitably impacted our results, I am pleased that we have delivered a resilient performance, with first-half completions slightly ahead of our expectations.”
The housebuilder said completions for the whole year would be at the upper end of previous guidance, but at 10,000 homes this is well below the 14,154 built in 2022. Full-year profit is expected to be between £440m and £470m, meaning that the firm is predicting a slackening in H2, and will again be far below last year’s operating profit of £923m.
Daly added: “As we move into the second half of the year, our focus remains on optimising all areas of our operations as we continue to support our customers during this uncertain period.”
She insisted that the housebuilder was “a strong, sustainable and agile business”, with a “healthy order book underpinned by a robust balance sheet and an excellent land bank”.
The total order book value, excluding joint ventures, currently stands at £2.2bn, down from £2.9bn for the same period in 2022. The total volume of 7,900 homes is also a marked fall on that period’s 10,392 homes.
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