SCOTTISH housebuilder Springfield Properties has revealed it achieved a record number of reservations for a single week after reopening its sales offices on June 29, and that its order book of contracted revenue stands at more than £110 million.
The Elgin-based company also said yesterday that it had started handing over homes that were nearing completion prior to lockdown being implemented in March. It added that, as a result, it expected sales in the first quarter of its financial year, which covers the June to August period, to be “significantly higher than the equivalent period last year”.
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Springfield said it expected to report revenue of around £144m and pre-tax profits of at least £9m for the year to May 31, citing the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the delivery of homes to customers. It recorded revenue of £190.8m and pre-tax profits of £16m in the prior year.
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Noting good growth across its business before the Covid-19 outbreak, it said: “As a result of the lockdown, Springfield was unable to complete the delivery of homes scheduled to take place in April and May 2020, which for the previous two years accounted for 30 per cent of annual revenue. As a consequence, the majority of private completions anticipated for Q4 2019/2020 were postponed into the new financial year. Notwithstanding the lack of sales in the last two months of the year, the group was able to achieve the same level of revenue in affordable housing as the prior year.”
Flagging “pent-up demand”, Springfield noted the number of reservations received in the first week after reopening its sales offices was the highest it had ever recorded in a one-week period and “substantially higher than normal for this time of year”. It restarted on-site operations from June 15. Construction activity had now resumed on every site.
Springfield’s shares finished 2.5p or 2.7 per cent higher at 96p.
It said: “In addition to the recent reservations, Springfield’s order book of contracted revenue currently stands at over £110m. This includes £44m of largely constructed private housing, much of which was due to be handed over to clients in April and May 2020. These homes are contracted under the Scottish missive system and the group has only had one cancellation since lockdown. The affordable housing element consists of £66m from construction contracts already under way.”
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