Last checked at 29 Apr 2010 07:00
29 April 2010
Taylor Wimpey plc
Interim Management Statement
Taylor Wimpey plc is holding its Annual General Meeting at 11:00 today in London, where the following comments will be made regarding current trading, financial performance and the outlook for the financial year. In line with the requirements of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, this Interim Management Statement covers the period from 1 January 2010 to the date of this announcement.
The Group as a whole has performed in line with our expectations in a gradually improving, but still uncertain, trading environment.
UK Housing
Market conditions remain encouraging, with continued gradual improvements in mortgage availability and buyer confidence.
We entered 2010 with a strong order book position and have continued to focus on building on this sales momentum and enhancing margins. We are approximately 99% sold for the half year and 74% sold for the full year targeted completions.
Private sales rates remain in line with those achieved in the equivalent period of 2009 at an average of 0.61 sales per site per week net of cancellations. Cancellations are running at long-term low levels of 14.8% for the year to date, which is also a significant improvement on the 18.5% in the equivalent period of 2009.
Prices achieved on sales of private homes are up by approximately 9% on the equivalent period in 2009, of which around 5% results from active changes in mix and approximately 4% from underlying price increases.
We remain active in the land market, focusing our attention on the opportunities available to acquire good quality land at attractive prices.
North America Housing
Affordability remains extremely good in our US markets and recent data releases indicate that the gradual increase in housing starts, prices and builder confidence is continuing, assisted by the Homebuyer Tax Credit programme. Our markets in Canada continue to see steady price improvement.
Year to date sales rates for North America are ahead of the equivalent period in 2009, largely offsetting the reduction in the number of active outlets. In the US, the average sales rate per site per week, net of cancellations, is 0.48 for the year to date ahead of the 0.37 in the corresponding period of 2009.
Our business in Canada continues to perform strongly. It has delivered a significant improvement in net sales per site per week to 1.07 for the year to date against a 2009 year to date comparative of 0.52.
For North America as a whole we are approximately 99% sold for the half year and 69% sold for the full year targeted completions.
We continue to evaluate new land opportunities, particularly where we see value in longer-term assets.
Group financial position
We have generated further cash since the year end and net debt stands at c£660 million, in line with our plans (31/12/2009: £750.9 million).
Outlook
We are encouraged by the ongoing signs of improvement across our main markets.
Although economic and political risks remain in the UK, we believe that the underlying shortfall of new build housing and the strong levels of demand will continue to underpin the market. However, we remain concerned that the shortage of consented land will artificially constrain industry volume recovery in the medium term.
In the US, we continue to expect to see relatively volatile sales patterns over the next few months, settling into a sustainable recovery towards the end of this year. The Canadian market has continued to perform well and we expect this to be maintained.
Our active cost reduction, high quality landbank and strong order book position us well to increase profitability as markets recover.
-ends-
For further information please contact:
Taylor Wimpey plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 7355 8109
Pete Redfern, Group Chief Executive
Chris Rickard, Group Finance Director
Jonathan Drake, Investor Relations
Finsbury Tel: +44 (0) 20 7251 3801
Faeth Birch
Clare Hunt
Notes to editors:
Taylor Wimpey plc builds homes in the UK, North America, Spain and Gibraltar. It aims to be the homebuilder of choice for customers, employees, shareholders and communities.
For further information, please visit the Group's website:
www.taylorwimpeyplc.com