Taylor Wimpey says there's more growth to come

In the year to 31^st December 2021, Taylor Wimpey generated revenue of £4,285m, which was 54% up on 2020’s £2,790m) but not quite at 2019’s £4,341m.

Profit before tax of £679.6m was way up on 2020’s £264.4m but some way down on 2019’s £835.9m.

However, notwithstanding "the challenging geopolitical, macro-economic and regulatory environment", further 'modest' growth is expected this year.

“Demand for our homes remains strong and we continued to drive significant margin improvement in 2021, as we optimise selling prices and maintain our strong focus on cost efficiency,” Pete Redfern said.

“Assuming the market remains broadly stable, we continue to expect to deliver low single digit year on year completions growth in 2022 and to make further progress towards our 21-22% operating margin target. We expect 2022 year end net cash to be around £600m, depending on the timing of land payments. Build cost inflation is currently running at c.6% and, at this stage, we expect sales price growth to continue to offset build cost inflation in 2022.”

He said: "With the opportunistic purchase of additional land over the last 18 months, our land pipeline leaves us well placed to accelerate high-quality, profitable volume delivery from 2023, generating additional value and compelling investor returns.”

The board has decided to return excess cash of approximately £150m in 2022 through a share buyback programme, with an initial tranche of £75m expected to be completed in the next three months.

On the fire safety and cladding issue, Taylor Wimpey has already made substantial provisions for remedial works – £165m as of March 2021. Proposed additional commitments from the industry in relation to buildings over 11 metres would require “an additional modest provision”, Pete Redfern said.

Pete Redfern has been chief executive of Taylor Wimpey since 2007. As previously reported, he is leaving the company after the annual general meeting on 26th April, to be replaced by Jennie Daly, currently group operations director.

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