Taylor Wimpey is back in the black with a £19.6m pre-tax profit for the first half of 2010.
The house builder posted a £68.9m loss for the same period in 2009, and lost £700m for the full year.
Revenue was up 8% at £1.22bn, compared to £1.13bn for the half of last year.
Net debt continued to fall, dropping to £634m from more than £1bn this time last year. Taylor Wimpey's net finance charges were £59.7m (H1 2009: £71.7m).
In the UK, revenue was up 11% at £827m (H1 2009: £744.4m). Its underlying operating margin was 6.1%.
Completions were up 2% at 4,804, compared to 4,702 for the first six months of 2009. Of these, 3,925 were private and 866 affordable.
The average selling price climbed 10% to £168,000, with £180,000 for private homes and £116,000 affordable.
The firm said it had managed to reduce build cost during the period, with the total cost per square foot for private homes averaging £104 during the first half (H1 2009: £114), a reduction of 9%.
Taylor Wimpey has 63,291 owned or controlled plots with planning or resolution to grant, a drop of 8.5% on the H1 2009 figure.
Its total UK order book stands at £952m.
Pete Redfern, group chief executive, said: "We have performed well in the first half of the year and I'm pleased with the progress we've made in reducing costs, improving the margin and developing the landbank. We have significantly strengthened our business and we are well-positioned to grow shareholder value.”
Sign up to our FREE email newsletters or subscribe to our RSS feed for regular updates on the latest construction news, construction tenders, construction data, and construction law.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
