Henry Boot sees improvement

by John Leitch



Henry Boot made a record pre-tax profit of £11.2m last year, an improvement of £600,000 over the group's results in 1998. Turnover was 19% ahead at £205m.

Announcing the construction group's results (12 months to 31 December 1999) on Monday (17April), managing director Jamie Boot said that the board had been involved in a buy-back of 500,000 company shares since the year-end. Boot has a total of 26 million shares, the board having already bought back one million during 1999 in a bid to improve the value of the remaining shares.

Despite Boot's low share price, however, there is little enthusiasm for returning to being a private company. Jamie Boot explained: "Going public was a move that we undertook originally to raise money and to create a market for shares to be traded in."

The group's homes division, with a turnover of £45m, recorded over 500 completions. The average selling price rose to £89,000. Boot has regional offices in Glasgow, Doncaster, Birmingham, Northampton and Bristol.

Boot's property development and investment division had "an excellent" year. To minimise risk, over 80% of sites for redevelopment are acquired on a pre-let basis.