Cala confident despite dips
Profit at housebuilder Cala Group fell by one-third in the year ended 31 December as completions dipped.
The group, which is owned by Legal & General, saw pretax profit tumble from £169m in 2022 to £112m last year.
Turnover dipped by 7.3% to around £1.2bn as completions fell by 3.6% to 2,917.
Profit at housebuilder Cala Group fell by one-third in the year ended 31 December as completions dipped.
The group, which is owned by Legal & General, saw pretax profit tumble from £169m in 2022 to £112m last year.
Turnover dipped by 7.3% to around £1.2bn as completions fell by 3.6% to 2,917.
Forward reservations also declined over the year, dropping by 14.8% from 751 to 650, representing a 22.2% fall in GDV from £396m to £308m.
Despite the decline in completions and forward reservations, Cala said it had maintained its average sales per site per week at around 0.63 and had marginally increased its average sale price from £492,000 to £495,000.
Chief executive Kevin Whitaker said: “Cala delivered a robust financial performance in 2023. Despite market challenges, we maintained a sales rate of 0.63 in line with 2022, securing revenue per site per week of £315,000. This consistent delivery has given us confidence to execute our strategy to invest in land for future years.”
He added that during 2023 Cala had contracted 24 new sites, capable of delivering more than 4,300 new homes with a GDV of £2.1bn.
Whitaker said that so far in the new financial year, average sales per site had increased to 0.71 and the business was seeing encouraging levels of enquiries.
“While still early to predict, this positive start to the year alongside improving economic fundamentals are reasons for optimism that the market could return to more normal conditions during 2024,” said Whitaker. “The stabilising of interest rates, reductions in inflation and more competitive mortgage rates will improve affordability.”
Photo by Shutterstock (742045d)
