In an upbeat rading statement, Taylor Wimpey said it has stared down the political uncertainty of 2019 and will deliver results in line with expectations.
“Our results for the year to 31 December 2019 will be in line with our expectations,” Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, confirmed. “Despite an uncertain political and economic backdrop in 2019, we have continued to experience a good level of demand for our homes and trading in the second half of the year was as anticipated. The Group has again delivered a record sales rate and we increased home completions by c.5% in the year.
“In 2019, our focus was on strengthening the long-term sustainability of the business, further improving our build quality and customer offering, as well as increasing operating capacity and flexibility. In 2020, we will continue with these initiatives and will also prioritise a renewed cost focus and process simplification improvements.”
Despite ongoing economic and political uncertainty, the housing market remained stable throughout 2019, albeit with more challenging conditions in London and the South East and at higher price points, the statement said.
In 2019, the housebuilder’s total home completions increased by c.5% to 15,719. The average selling prices on private completions increased by 1% to £305k (2018: £302k), with the overall average selling price increasing to £269k (2018: £264k).
Taylor Wimpey ended 2019 with a record total order book valued at £2,176 million, as at 31 December 2019, excluding joint ventures. Build cost inflation in 2019 was c.4.5%.
The group will report full year 2019 results in line with expectations, delivering an operating profit margin of c.19.6% (2018: 21.6%), as previously guided, and a return on net operating assets of c.31% (2018: 33.4%).
“We made good progress throughout 2019 in improving our build quality and investing to further improve our customer offering and underpin our future production capacity,” said Redfern. “This includes a significant increase in the number of apprentices.
“While 2020 will continue to be a year of change for the UK, we welcome the increased political stability following the general election. We start the year with a strong order book and continue to target a smoother profile of completions throughout the year but expect 2020 to continue to be second half weighted.
“We will continue to embed the improvements we are making across the business and will focus on cost discipline and process simplification.”
Taylor Wimpey’s shares crept up over 1% on the back of the upbeat trading statement.
