Full-year figures from Taylor Wimpey (TW.) served as a further reminder of the buoyant housebuilding sector, with operating profit up by a third at £637m. Shareholders will be rewarded with a special dividend of 9.2p a share, pushing the total yield up to 5.8 per cent.
Completions rose by 7.5 per cent to 13,219, while average selling prices were up 8 per cent at £230,000, which helped to lift operating margins from 17.9 per cent to 20.3 per cent. Cash conversion rose sharply, and despite acquiring close to 7,000 high-quality plots to help grow the short-term land bank to 76,000, there was still a net £223m of cash on the balance sheet.
Demand remains strong, and the forward order book on private sales rose to a record £1.78bn at the year-end, representing 7,484 homes. The group is already halfway towards securing targeted private sales for the whole of 2016.
Building costs rose by 5 per cent, and almost all of this reflected labour costs, whereas raw material and land costs were relatively benign. And as more skilled workers enter the market, build cost inflation is expected to moderate to between 3 per cent and 4 per cent in 2016.
Analysts at Numis forecast adjusted pre-tax profit of £704m and EPS of 17.2p in 2016, compared with £604m and 15p in 2015.
| TAYLOR WIMPEY (TW.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 187.3p | MARKET VALUE: | £6.1bn | |
| TOUCH: | 187.3-187.5p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 207p | LOW: 138p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.9% | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 84p | NET CASH: | £223m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1.81 | 78.6 | 1.8 | 0.38 |
| 2012 | 2.02 | 204 | 7.2 | 0.62 |
| 2013 | 2.30 | 306 | 7.5 | 0.69* |
| 2014 | 2.69 | 469 | 11.6 | 1.56* |
| 2015 | 3.14 | 603 | 15.1 | 1.67* |
| % change | +17 | +29 | +30 | +7 |
Ex-div: 7 Apr Payment: 20 May *Excludes special dividends of 1.54p a share for 2013, 7.68p for 2014 and 9.2p for 2015 | ||||
