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Keepmoat books £13.2m hit from West Midlands sites
Keepmoat Homes has been forced to close its West Midlands office after taking a £13.2m hit on its profits as a result of mounting costs on its sites.
The company said that it had “significant trading issues” in the region and that there had been “cost over-runs that were not adequately managed” on a number of sites. As a result it had closed its West Midlands office and moved the management of the sites to other regional offices.
The costs had been contained in the past financial year, the company said.
The problems hit the company’s overall operating profits, which slid 35.4% to £18.2m in the 12 months to the end of March, denting an otherwise positive financial performance.
Keepmoat boosted its revenue by almost a third in the past year after rapidly increasing the number of properties it built. The company said that in the year to 31 March, its revenues jumped by 31.3% to £555.6m as it moves closer to its target of delivering 4,000 homes a year.
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In the 12-month period, the firm sold 3,717 homes, 793 more than in the previous year, while its average selling price increased from £145,000 to £149,000. The number of plots within its land pipeline increased by 13% to 32,331, giving it more land for development.
James Thomson, chief executive of Keepmoat, said the past year had been a “transformational period”.
“Our new financial year has started well and we plan to build over 4,000 much needed new homes this year,” he added.
Keepmoat sold its regeneration division to French utility company Engie in April 2017, meaning the company is now focused entirely on housebuilding. It is one of the country’s top 10 house builders and mainly provides homes for first-time buyers – half of the people it sold to last year were under 35.
It has recently agreed a partnership with Ilke Homes, a modular homes business, in order to explore new ways of constructing houses.
It also works with housing associations and local authorities to deliver affordable homes, and in the 12-month period sold 31% of the homes it developed to registered providers or the private rented sector market.
