Final Results
Financial highlights
· Group revenue increased 5.8% to £479m, driven by 15% increase in average selling prices, with private ASP up by 17% to £204,100
· Operating margin rose from 7.5% (excluding Scotland) to 10% as a result of increased sales from sites purchased since the downturn, improved product mix and the benefit of high profit on land sales and freehold reversion sales (margin was 9% excluding these one off items)
· Pre-tax profit up 70% to £43m and adjusted earnings per share up 80% to 10.8p
· Private net reservations up 4% from £416m to £434m (excluding London) due to a change in mix to larger homes and private order book up 33% to £152m
· Return on capital employed up from 6.1% to 8.7%
· NAV per share up 5% to £1.52 adjusted for the £78m share issue
· Net debt down £61.4m to £14.0m, gearing down to 2% (2011: 16%)
Operational highlights
· New Heritage Collection now firmly established as primary brand and represented 67% of private turnover during the year (2011: 35%)
· Opening of new outlets remains a priority; 82 outlets at year end (2011: 74) should increase to over 90 outlets by the end of the current financial year
· London Division commenced construction on our first two major flatted schemes, One Commercial Street in Aldgate and Kingston Riverside in Kingston upon Thames
· Landbank of 12,350 plots at the end of June 2012 (June 2011: 11,190 plots)
· Reservations in the current year are 16% ahead of the same period last year
· 5 Star Award in HBF 2012 Customer Satisfaction Survey