Barratt posts unchanged yearly profit of £390m

Barratt’s latest annual pre-tax profit ran to £390m, the same as the previous year. The housebuilder achieved an average selling price of £166,000. Chairman Charles Toner said: “The medium- and long-term fundamentals of the housing market remain sound, reinforced by a continuing serious shortage of new homes resulting from the slow planning system.” Barratt’s financial results (12 months to 30 June) show turn-over much the same at £2.4bn (£2.5bn).

The average selling price was down from £172,000 in the previous year as a result of increased social housing completions and a different geographic mix. Land stocks have strengthened to 67,000 plots, equivalent to 4.5 years’ supply. Barratt has net cash of £35m (£280m). Chief executive David Pretty steps down at Christmas after 27 years with the group.

Mark Clare, his successor, will come on board on 2 October, the three-month transition should result in an orderly hand-over of the reins. Barratt’s new iPad range of starter home is targeted at bridging the affordability gap for first-time buyers. The first 30 iPads, recently completed in Middlesbrough, were all sold ahead of construction, at prices from £85,000. Another 120 iPads are under construction on five new sites, with 11 further sites for 484 iPads soon to start. Barratt’s eco-village of new homes in Chorley, Lancashire, incorporating the latest energy-efficient and green technologies, is being independently assessed by researchers from Manchester University.

[Contract Journal, 4 October 2006, p 8]