Taylor Wimpey Share News (TW.)

(Sharecast News) - Taylor Wimpey reported a set of results in line with its expectations on Wednesday, with "clear progress" against its strategic priorities, even as its profits slipped.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder said it saw a 5% increase in group completions in the year ended 31 December, to 16,042, including joint ventures.

It said its revenue was up 6.4% at ?4.34bn, while operating profit slipped to ?850.5m from ?880.2m, which it said reflected its volume growth, offset by rising build costs and flat house prices.

That delivered an operating profit margin of 19.6%, down from 21.6% year-on-year.

The company's profit before tax and exceptional items was ?821.6m, falling from ?856.8m in 2018, while profit for the year totalled ?673.9m, up from ?656.6m.

Basic earnings per share totalled 20.6p, compared to 20.1p a year earlier.

Net cash stood at ?545.7m at year-end, down from ?644.1m, as the company paid ?599.7m in total dividends in 2019, up from ?499.5m.

The board proposed ?610m in total dividends for 2020, subject to shareholder approval.

On the operational front, Taylor Wimpey reported a "strong" UK forward order book of 9,725 units as at 31 December, compared to 8,304 at the end of 2018, which was valued at ?2.18bn, up from ?1.78bn.

It claimed an "industry leading" sales rate of 0.96, up from 0.80 and representing a record, as well as an increase of 20%.

Further progress was made in improving the company's build quality, the board said, and investing to strengthen its customer offering and future production capacity.

Taylor Wimpey led the volume housebuilders with its National House-Building Council (NHBC) Construction Quality Review score of 4.13, up from 3.93 in 2018.

The number of key trade apprentices increased to 634 from 318, and the company noted that it was named in the Glassdoor top 50 places to work in the UK for 2020, voted for by employees, for the third consecutive year.

"The group delivered a good performance in 2019, with a record sales rate and home completions increasing by 5%," said chief executive officer Pete Redfern.

"During the year, we continued to strengthen our business and build a sustainable advantage, improving our core customer proposition and business flexibility through investments in customer service, quality, build capacity and direct labour.

"These investments will strengthen the business for the long term."

Redfern said that in 2020, the company would focus on further embedding and leveraging those improvements across the business, while increasing its focus on cost discipline and process simplification.

"The new year has started well, with a good level of customer demand and a clearer political outlook."

At 0831 GMT, shares in Taylor Wimpey were down 1.83% at 215p.