Miller output to rise with new regions

Miller plans to expand its housebuilding divisions from seven to nine, a move that will take the group's annual output beyond 5,000 units.
The housebuilder, the eleventh-largest in the UK in volume terms, is on track to build 2,750 properties this year.
Announcing the group's interim results, chief executive Keith Miller said: "We have seven regions at the moment and some are not yet up to critical mass. When they are, output should climb to 3,500 to 4,000.
"On top of that, we will expand into a new region, the South of England. Next year, and the following year we will have another new one when we split the South into two, covering the areas west of London and south of London.
"We've taken the first step, buying a large landbank from the NHS. They were redundant hospital sites. It gives us 10,000 plots. This is a joint venture between us and the Bank of Scotland and so some plots will be traded out rather than built on by Miller."
Miller's group turnover (six months to 30 June) rose to £320m (£280m) and pre-tax profit strengthened to £11m (£7.5m).
Miller said: "Housing is our number one business division. It is where we have invested the most."
The average house price was 14% higher at £142,000. "Household formation and customers' aspirations to own their own home are increasing," said Miller.
There are no plans to drop the group's construction wing. "The model used at Taylor Woodrow and at Kier - albeit with a bigger construction business than us - is one we are comfortable with," Miller said.
"We are a housebuilding- and property-led business but construction is important as it means that we can do complex mixed-use schemes. For example, we have been able to look at NHS Estates opportunities that a pure housebuilder wouldn't be able to do."
Construction margins, running at just 1%, will match last year's figure of 2.5% by the end of the full year, Miller said.