SPRINGFIELD Properties has announced an 18.3% rise in revenue to £94.4 million in its half-year interim results for the six months ended 30 November 2020.
The housebuilder revealed that pre-tax profit is up 42.9% to £9 million when compared with the same period 12 months earlier.
Springfield reported that both build and sales activity have ‘rebounded strongly’ following resumption of operations in June following the Covid-19 shutdown period. Realisation of work in progress enabled a reduction in net debt to £33.2 million at the end of November – down from £68.8 million in May 2020.
Total house completions during the six months increased slightly to 443 (from 438 a year ago), while ‘sustained progress’ was achieved in advancing land bank with planning approval received for more than 450 homes during the period and the proportion of land bank with planning permission increasing to 53.8%.
Innes Smith, CEO of Springfield Properties, said, “This has been an excellent six months for Springfield. We safely and efficiently resumed construction to complete the homes that had been scheduled for handover at the end of the previous financial year. Our sales offices re-opened to significant interest, reflecting pent-up demand and the increasing desirability for the type of housing Springfield provides with spacious homes with private gardens and easy access to plenty of green space. As a result, we were able to deliver significant revenue growth and substantially reduce our net debt position, reflecting the operational gearing of the business.
“On behalf of the board, I would like thank our employees for their hard work and dedication during this time, which has enabled us to achieve these great results. Springfield has a large, high-quality land bank across almost all the key geographies in Scotland, which we continued to develop and received planning approval for over 450 homes. We strengthened our operations by implementing a number of efficiency and rationalisation measures that will reduce our cost base going forward. We are also pleased to have agreed, post period, with Sigma Capital that we will be progressing our first housing for the private rental sector at our Bertha Park Village.
“With substantial visibility over our private and affordable housing revenue for the full year, we look forward to delivering significant growth for 2020/21, and expect to be slightly ahead of current market expectations.”
