The company turned around a £2.3m pre-tax loss last time to a £28.9m pre-tax profit for the six months to 3 July 2011. Operating profit on continuing operations improved 16% from £51.1m in H1 2010 to £67.2m in H1 2011. Operating margin was 9.3%.
Sale of the North American business was completed on 13 July 2011, therefore the results of this business have been treated as discontinued operations in these results.
Chief executive Pete Redfern said: "This has been a transformational six months for Taylor Wimpey, with the sale of our North American business and significant progress towards our double-digit operating margin target in the UK. We have a strengthened balance sheet, an increased financial capacity to invest in the UK and we are well positioned to deliver further improvement in margin and returns going forward.
“Although there is ongoing uncertainty in the wider economic environment, current conditions in the UK housing market remain stable. We expect this stability to continue for the remainder of 2011 and remain on course to deliver profits in line with the board's expectations for the continuing group."
Taylor Wimpey completed 4,707 homes in the UK in the first half (H1 2010: 4,804), with a focus on margin improvement rather than volume growth. UK average selling prices remained flat at £168k (H1 2010: £168k).
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