Galliford Try’s earnings jump
CONSTRUCTION and housebuilding firm Galliford Try has posted a 34 per cent jump in full-year adjusted pre-tax profit, beating expectations, driven by its focus on southern England.
Galliford, whose projects this year include restoring London’s St Pancras Chambers and the athletes’ village at the Olympic Park, said pre-tax profits for the financial year came in at £35.1m compared with £26.1m last year on revenues up five per cent to £1.28bn.
Chief executive Greg Fitzgerald (pictured right) said its housebuilding arm saw the number of completions rise 27 per cent to 2,170 after the market picked up in the second half of the year.
The group, which raised £119.3m in 2009 to double the size of its housebuilding division, said it was on track to complete 3,000 units this year, with a strategic focus on the south of England.
Revenues in its construction business were flat and underlying profits dipped by three per cent to £22.2m as Fitzgerald warned that the market remained increasingly competitive. Galliford upped its dividend by 28 per cent to 18p.