Galliford Try’s profit slumps amid Bovis talks

Galliford Try has posted a pretax profit decline of 27.3% to £104m in the year to 30 June, as talks to sell its housebuilding business to Bovis Homes start again. Group revenue fell by around 7.5% to £2.7bn during the period. Earnings per share fell from 121.1p to 78.5p, year-on-year. Galliford Try highlighted that its construction business was hit by contract write-downs and restructuring costs. Chief executive Graham Prothero said: “We continue to make great progress in Linden Homes, focusing on the benefits of standardising our range and rationalising process. We are building homes more cost effectively while delivering well-designed, high quality units which meet our customers’ needs, as reflected in our improving satisfaction scores. “Partnerships & Regeneration has continued its excellent performance with both revenue growth and margin expansion, as we increase our delivery of affordable new homes. “Construction’s result for the year has been impacted by challenges with both legacy and some current projects and by the restructure, which is now complete. The business continues to see good demand in its Building and Infrastructure divisions and is focusing on disciplined growth across its core sectors of building, water and highways, which we believe will deliver improved margins. “The potential combination of our Linden Homes and Partnerships businesses with Bovis Homes represents a superb opportunity, enhancing the prospects for all three of our businesses to thrive as strategically focused and well-financed operations with excellent opportunities for growth. The transaction allows Construction to continue trading as a standalone well capitalised business.” See also: Bovis Homes and Galliford Try in talks again over £1bn deal    To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette