Manor Kingdom heads south

After two years of poor profit-making, Scottish housebuilder Manor Kingdom has been sold to two property developers based in the south of England.

Remo Dipre and David Gaffney, who bought Manor Kingdom last week, also run the Gladedale Group. They have not revealed how much they paid, but said that the development value of Manor Kingdom’s sites runs to more than £150m.

Manor Kingdom’s latest financial results showed a turnover of £20m (12 months to 31 December 2003).

The pre-tax profit of £700,000 represented a margin of 3.5%, which is well below figures of 14% to 18% achieved by many housebuilders.

However, this performance was a large improvement on Manor Kingdom’s previous result: it barely broke even in 2002, when a turnover of £16m yielded a pre-tax profit of just £35,000.

Based in Dunfermline, Manor Kingdom will retain its autonomy and its 100 staff are being kept on. The new owners have plans for a push into the south of England and are looking to set up a new regional office in Epsom, Surrey, within the next 12 months.