Taylor Wimpey boosted by General Election as profits rise
Taylor Wimpey said yesterday it would return more cash to shareholders after pre-tax profit rose by a third to £238m in the first half, boosted by a pick-up in trading following the General Election.
Chief executive Peter Redfern said that since May it has seen a significant improvement in consumer confidence and mortgage availability, which has continued into July.
“We have used the opportunity of a stable and positive housing market to make significant progress towards our medium term financial and quality objectives,” he said.
The housebuilder will pay investors £300m in July 2016, a 20 per cent increase on the special dividend paid this year.
The group said it completed 5,842 homes (excluding joint ventures) across the UK in the first half to 28 June compared with 5,695 last year, while the average selling price rose by 9.2 per cent to £225,000.
It also reiterated that its land bank was big enough to sustain its ambition of building around 14,000 homes a year.