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(Alliance News) - Taylor Wimpey PLC on Thursday raised full-year guidance on a buoyant UK property market that saw it completing on a record number of homes.
Revenue for the first half of 2021 surged to GBP2.20 billion from GBP754.6 million a year ago, while the construction company swung to a pretax profit of GBP287.5 million from a loss of GBP39.8 million.
It highlighted positive momentum in the half-year, with the net private sales rate improving to 0.97 per week, up from 0.70 a year ago, and the opening of 37 new outlets in the period.
The housebuilder completed a record 7,303 homes in the first half, more than double the 2,771 a year before, partly due to delayed fourth quarter completions.
"The UK housing market has continued to perform strongly across all our geographies in the first half of the year. Having entered 2021 with an excellent order book, we have delivered a strong first half performance, benefiting, as anticipated, from delayed fourth quarter 2020 completions and the continuing strength in the housing market," said Taylor Wimpey.
Forward indicators remain robust, it added, and build cost and supply chain pressure is being fully offset by "healthy" house price growth.
Taylor Wimpey now expects full-year operating profit to be GBP820 million, above the top end of consensus. This compares with just GBP300.3 million in 2020, and approaches the pre-pandemic level of GBP850.5 million in 2019.
UK completions, excluding joint ventures, are expected to be towards the upper end of the guidance range at 13,200 to 14,000 homes.
Looking further forward at the medium term, Taylor Wimpey said it was "well positioned for accelerated volume growth" from 2023, with a record 32,000 plots approved in the past 12 months.
"We have delivered a record first half performance and a strong operating profit margin performance of 19.3%, which reflects tight cost discipline as well as higher completions in the period," commented Chief Executive Pete Redfern.
The FTSE 100 constituent declared an interim dividend of 4.14p.
Shares were trading 4.3% higher at 171.83 pence in early trading in London on Wednesday.
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
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