Concentrating on building homes in and around central London has paid off handsomely for Telford Homes (TEF) and its shares rose 5 per cent on the back of these impressive half-year figures. The outlook is promising, too, with 90 per cent of targeted completions already secured for the year to end-March 2013 and over 60 per cent for the following year. Completions in the first half more than doubled from 125 to 252 and the average selling price rose from £263,000 to £288,000 - helping to lift the operating margin from 6.2 per cent to 11.4 per cent.
Demand was especially strong from overseas buyers, where some sales were secured up to three years in advance of completion. In fact, contracts have been exchanged on 432 properties since 1 April, with another 128 reserved subject to contract, compared with 460 exchanges in the whole of the previous year. The group's Stratford Plaza development, for example, saw 187 of the 198 open-market homes sold in a matter of weeks, although completion is not due until the second half of 2015.
Profits are likely to be weighted towards the first half and broker Shore Capital is currently forecasting full-year pre-tax profit of £8m, giving EPS of 11.8p (from £3.05m and 4.7p for 2012).
| TELFORD HOMES (TEF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 181p | MARKET VALUE: | £90.5m | |
| TOUCH: | 175-181p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 185p | LOW: 73p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 142p | NET DEBT: | 45% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 58.6 | 1.45 | 2.10 | 1.50 |
| 2012 | 78.3 | 6.53 | 10.2 | 2.00 |
| % change | +34 | +350 | +386 | +33 |
Ex-div: 12 Dec Payment: 11 Jan | ||||
