LONDON (Alliance News) - Inland Homes PLC on Thursday reported a rise in profit in the first half of its current financial year, but said revenue took a hit from a decline in plot sales and price.
The housebuilder reported a moderate increase in pretax profit to GBP5.5 million for the six months to the end of December 2018 compared to GBP5.4 million a year earlier, despite revenue falling to GBP51.0 million from GBP61.2 million.
Revenue was hurt by a reduced number of plots sold and a decrease in private home completions due to the timing of Inland's development programme.
The company said it sold 30 land plots during the period compared to 338 sold in the first half of financial 2018 and completed the sale of 81 private homes, down from 96 a year earlier.
The average selling price of Inland's residential units was GBP238,000, lower than GBP322,000 a year prior, resulting from a different property mix of the sales in the period, the company said.
Inland increased its interim payout by 31% to 0.85 pence from 0.65p paid the year before.
Total current order book more than tripled to GBP140 million from GBP43 million the year ago with 496 homes for partnership housing under construction, up from 220 homes.
"This is a very pleasing set of results, with continued growth in the underlying value of our land holdings and overall profitability, reflecting a successful period of operational activity for the business," said Chief Executive Stephen Wicks.
"Despite well-reported political and economic uncertainty, demand for new homes continues to significantly outstrip supply," added Wicks.
Inland shares were trading 1.0% higher on Thursday at 63.30 pence each.
