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(Alliance News) - Cairn Homes PLC on Tuesday posted a double-digit earnings rise, with the Irish housebuilder releasing a full-year payout, after not doing so in 2018.
Revenue in 2019 was 29% higher year-on-year at EUR435.3 million from EUR337.0 million, with pretax profit up 41% to EUR58.6 million from EUR41.5 million.
Driving the revenue surge was an increase in closed sales and average selling price. Closed sales were 34% higher at 1,080, from 804, with average sales price up 1.6% to EUR372,000 from EUR366,000.
The company paid a full-year dividend of 5.25 euro cents, following no payout in 2018.
Cairn said: "The company has witnessed a positive start to the Spring 2020 selling season with strong levels of demand across our selling sites."
Its forward sales pipeline stands at EUR266.1 million, up by just shy of a third year-on-year from EUR201.4 million.
For 2020, Cairn expects sales completions of between 1,250 and 1,300, and a gross margin of about 20%. This would represent an improvement from 19.6% in 2019.
Shares in the company were 3.3% higher at EUR1.27 each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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