And with a record order book seeing improving margins, profits are set to grow further.
Operating profit reached £132.4m (2012 H1: £99.2m) while profit before tax and exceptional items was up 42% to £109.0m (2012 H1: £76.7m).
Group revenue from continuing operations increased by 11.1% to £1,007.1m (2012 H1: £906.2m).
Group operating margin therefore improved from 11.0% to 13.1%.
At the same time, net debt decreased to £68.4m at 30 June 2013 from £135.2m a year before, benefiting from improved profitability despite further investment in the business.
There was even a huge improvement in the health and safety performance, with a reportable incidence rate of 116 per 100,000 employees in the first half of 2013, compared to 259 for the same period last year.
Taylor Wimpey’s order book has reached a record 7,378 homes (as at 28 July 2013) and is valued at £1.3bn. It is nearly 90% forward sold for 2013 as at 28 July 2013. Margins in the order book are ahead of completions in the first half of 2013.
Chief executive Pete Redfern said: “During the first half of 2013, there has been meaningful improvement in the housing market, with more positive consumer sentiment, a more available and affordable mortgage market, and the presence of government mortgage schemes, all adding to a favourable outlook. Our business is ideally positioned to perform well in this environment with a strong land position and a very effective housebuilding operation. We continue to open all new outlets with implementable planning permission."
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