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Galliford Try expects record profits

Galliford Try is benefitting from a buoyant housing sector and strong demand for construction work
September 10, 2014

Galliford Try (GFRD) expects to deliver record profits of around £95m - at the top end of the range of analysts' forecasts - when it releases its full-year figures on Tuesday.

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The house building division is performing strongly. According to a pre-close statement for the year to Jun 30, average prices for Linden Homes were up 15 per cent at £305,000. Forward sales were up 11 per cent to a record £348m, and the land bank has grown 23 per cent to 13,900 plots. All of the consented plots needed for the current financial year have been secured, and 87 per cent of plots needed for the year after. Despite the increased expenditure on land, year-end net debt should come in lower than management previously expected, at less than £5m.

On the construction side, the order book has risen from £1.25bn to £1.4bn, and the orders continue to flood in. Since the year-end, Galliford has secured £250m of work from Network Rail as well as £106m of work in the affordable housing sector. In addition, its Miller Construction business has won £51m of work to build schools and a new academy in Scotland.