HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey has said new home buyers were “unfazed” by the Brexit vote as it saw a 22 per cent lift in pre-tax profits to £733 million for 2016.
In Scotland, total completions by the FTSE 100 group increased 3.5 per cent to 1,148, with the average selling price up 6.3 per cent to £218,000.
The Government’s Help To Buy home ownership scheme will not be available on purchases of more than £200,000 from next month, but the group’s finance director Ryan Mangold said the group would continue with its current strategy.
“Help to buy has been a very useful tool for us,” he said. “I suspect that will be a little sensitive to the change in help to buy in Scotland, but decent quality homes in decent quality areas will continue to underpin what we do as a business.”
The group is trading from 28 outlets in Scotland, including a 461-house development at a 61-acre site in East Kilbride.
In total the group completed 14,122 homes, with the average selling price in the UK up £25,000 to £255,000. This led to a 17.1 per cent increase in revenue to £3.7 billion. The group holds net cash of £364.7m, up almost two-thirds on last year.
Shareholders received total dividends of 10.91p per share, equating to £355.9m and the company has committed to expand this to £450m in 2017, led by a special dividend of £300m to be paid in July. This is part of a commitment to return £1.3 billion to investors between 2016 and 2018.
The group’s share price continues to linger just below pre-Brexit vote levels, closing at 180p, up just under one per cent. This compares with 192p on June 23.
“We’ve got one of the strongest dividend yields in the FTSE 100, so in theory there’s still a bit to go on the share price to recognise that, but investors need to make their own minds up,” he said.
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