Henry Boot (BOOT) was firing on all cylinders in 2017, but land promotion was the star performer with a 30 per cent rise in profits to £23.1m. Early delivery of development schemes also boosted group profits to a record high, and the current year promises to deliver more of the same.
Hallam Land, which brings land through the planning process and sells it to housebuilders 'oven ready', sold 15 residential sites comprising 2,169 plots and secured 14 new planning consents, thereby increasing its consented portfolio by 13 per cent to 18,529 plots. The new year has also started on a strong footing, with 780 plots already exchanged for sale.
Early completions included the sale of residential units created at the former Terry’s chocolate factory in York. Selling out the entire scheme was expected to take around three years; encouragingly, the site was sold out after just 18 months.
The commercial development site recorded one of its busiest years ever, with work continuing on the 800,000 sq ft forward-funded Aberdeen exhibition and conference centre, while a similar forward-funded scheme continues in Manchester on 533 build-to-rent apartments.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to December 2018 of £48.2m and EPS of 29.5p, rising to £48.6m and 29.7p in 2019.
| HENRY BOOT (BOOT) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 306p | MARKET VALUE: | £407m | |
| TOUCH: | 303-307p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 350p | LOW: 220p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.6% | PE RATIO: | 10 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 201p | NET DEBT: | 11% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 | 154 | 18.4 | 8.6 | 5.1 |
| 2014 | 147 | 28.3 | 16.2 | 5.6 |
| 2015 | 176 | 32.4 | 17.5 | 6.1 |
| 2016 | 307 | 39.5 | 21.5 | 7 |
| 2017 | 408 | 55.4 | 32.1 | 8 |
| % change | +33 | +40 | +49 | +14 |
| Ex-div: | 26 Apr | |||
| Payment: | 30 May |
