Turning the tables in 2023
With 2022 year end figures being published, it is clear to see that in face of the ongoing risk of a UK wide recession, developers are still going strong and continuing business as normal.
SME’s and most PLC’s are still pushing through and buying land whilst staying on track with current live sites, compared to some of the major housebuilders who have evidently paused production and are reducing their headcount in the first quarter as the market resets.
Record profits being released
Despite this uncertainty Lovell, a subsidiary of the Morgan Sindall Group, have announced a record performance year with profits totalling £37.4 million, a 12.7% increase on last year. The order book at the year end was a 23% improvement compared to the previous, totalling £3.4million with the group having secured a workload of £8.5billion. Throughout both mixed tenure and contracting activities the group increased its unit volume by a third, a positive result from a challenging time.
Lovell Managing Director, Steve Coleby said: “2022 has seen us deliver record financial results with strong growth achieved in revenue and profits across the board. The year end results are fantastic, especially given the continued turbulence in the UK economy and the wider landscape of construction material shortages, inflationary cost increases and slow planning progression in parts of the UK. Our success is undoubtedly testament to the ongoing strength and commitment of the entire Lovell team, our supply chain and our partnerships who work relentlessly to achieve our ambitions.”
However it’s not just Lovell releasing promising results, CALA, who are a valued client of ours backed by Legal and General confirmed their strong stance in the current economy with a 9% revenue increase year on year to reach £1.36 billion.
Continuing to support the need for environmental change
CALA pushing to meet governments zero net carbon and green house gas emissions by 2045
With sustainability heavily becoming the top priority for developers across the country, CALA is continuing to grow its land bank to support the new build delivery programme set by the government and encourage buyers to continue purchasing new homes. They are also making progress towards their goal of being net zero carbon by 2030 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 & 2050 in line with both the Scottish and UK governments target, in turn saving their consumers money on energy and contributing to impact the environment in a positive way.
The team in East Scotland, headed up by MD Craig Lynes, have installed comprehensive electric vehicle charging ports and smart water tanks in its 40 five-bedroom homes within its Queenswood Development turning every home into the top-rated EPC possible.
CALA Group CEO Kevin Whitaker said: “CALA has delivered an excellent performance across 2022, achieving significant increases in revenue and pre-tax profit. We benefited from excellent market conditions in the first nine months of the year.”
Craig Lynes, Managing Director of CALA Homes East, said: “Sustainability has been high on the agenda here at CALA for some time, and now everyone can play their part in looking at tangible ways we can decarbonise our operations, in specific areas such as zero carbon homes, office environment, site environments, procurement and transportation in order to drive forward the changes needed to create a more environmentally responsible future.
Overview
Optimism and positivity stills resonate throughout the industry and with mortgage rates coming back down, the tables are beginning to turn.
Results are still showing improvements and the correlation of material increases and house prices going up doesn’t seem to have impacted success among businesses, and as the dust starts to settle, we will begin to see the footfall of new buyers across development sites increase and reservations and sales will begin to rise once again. The ever-looming risk of recession will pass, and it seems as though developers are well versed in navigating these challenging market conditions.