Miller predicts 'steady' housing recovery

Miller Group chief executive Keith Miller has predicted a "steady recovery" for the UK's housebuilding market, as it saw a 45% increase in reservations booked to the end of August.

The upbeat tone came despite a £33.8m pre-tax loss for the group, on a reduced turnover of £404m for the half year to 30 June 2009.

The losses stemmed from a £24.4m charge in recurring net interest payable, following a refinancing in March. The deal, which sees the banks taking a hefty fee, will last until March 2012. The company also took a hit on the cost of redundancies and property write-downs.

Miller's house building division recorded a revenue of £158.2m (2008: £169.8m). The division made an £11.1m pre-tax loss. Meanwhile, construction saw revenue fall to £228.2m (£281.3m). Profit was also down to £3.6m (£5.6m).

Speaking to CJ, Keith Miller said: "Housing is going to steadily recover. We are not going to see huge changes in volume or prices, but we are in a position where we can look forward with a little more confidence in terms of forecasting volumes and prices, which we weren't able to do a year ago."

Meanwhile, the construction side of the business saw its orderbook fall to £600m, from £800m in the same period a year ago.

But Miller said the company would not start to panic as spending starts to fall in the public sector.

"We are doing much more in frameworks than we were before. But at the end of the day we are not chasing work below cost. We've got a lot of long-term relationships with clients that work is coming through on. So it is a question of sizing the business accordingly and moving more towards frameworks, PFI, and PPP," he said.