Taylor Wimpey revenue drops as planning delays bite
Taylor Wimpey has blamed the “challenging” planning system and wider market conditions as the housebuilder suffered a 46% drop in annual profit on the back of a 20% fall in revenue.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder posted a full-year profit of £349m for 2023. Operating profit of £470m was half that of 2022 but in line with guidance. Revenue stood at £3.5bn.
Completions also fell and the company expects the number to drop again this year to 9,500-10,000.
The company said: “The planning environment continues to be very challenging with delays and resource pressures impacting housing land supply.
Taylor Wimpey has blamed the “challenging” planning system and wider market conditions as the housebuilder suffered a 46% drop in annual profit on the back of a 20% fall in revenue.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder posted a full-year profit of £349m for 2023. Operating profit of £470m was half that of 2022 but in line with guidance. Revenue stood at £3.5bn.
Completions also fell and the company expects the number to drop again this year to 9,500-10,000.The company said: “The planning environment continues to be very challenging with delays and resource pressures impacting housing land supply.
“Amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework announced by the government in December include positive measures to support improved quality of design and placemaking.
“However, other changes, including softening of the requirement to meet local planning targets, the relaxation of the soundness test for plan-making and the removal of the need for planning authorities to maintain a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites, could result in further delays and a shortfall in the supply of sites.”
Chief executive Jennie Daly said that the housebuilder has delivered “a good full year performance in line with expectations despite a challenging market”.
She said: “It is still early in the year and the macroeconomic backdrop remains uncertain. However, it is encouraging to see some signs of improvement in the market, with reduced mortgage rates positively impacting affordability and customer confidence.
“While the planning environment remains challenging, we have a high-quality, well-invested landbank and a strong financial position which underpins our ability to provide investors with a reliable income stream via our differentiated ordinary dividend policy.”
Daly added that the housebuilder was “well-positioned in an attractive market, with significant underlying demand for our quality homes” and was “poised for growth from 2025, assuming supportive market conditions”.
Taylor Wimpey is one of eight housebuilders being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority after the watchdog found evidence that they could be “sharing commercially sensitive information” with their rivals.
The CMA said it “has not reached any conclusions at this stage as to whether or not competition law has been infringed”.
In its results announcement, Taylor Wimpey said it will “cooperate fully” with the CMA.
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