British housebuilder Barratt Developments revealed this morning that profits for the last financial year had burst through the £1billion mark.
The company has hailed a year of "fantastic progress", with completions back at pre-pandemic levels.
Adjusted profits in the 12 months to the end of June were £1.054billion - up 14.8% on the previous year.
Home completions were ahead 3.9% at nearly 18,000, while turnover jumped 9.5% to £5.267billion.
The company's Scottish operations include eight sites in the Aberdeen area.
Chief executive David Thomas said: "This has been a year of fantastic progress, with completions recovering to pre-pandemic levels and excellent productivity across our sites.
"Customers are at the heart of everything we do - and we were awarded more NHBC Pride in the Job Awards than any other housebuilder for the 18th year in a row, testament to the high quality we consistently achieve across our sites.
Financial strength
"Our financial strength and operational excellence position us well to navigate the macro-economic uncertainties ahead."
Barratt said market fundamentals remain strong, reflecting the continued imbalance between housing supply and demand, as well as good mortgage availability.
The firm added: "We entered the full year to 2023 with a strong forward sales position."
At the end of August, Barratt was 55% forward sold for private wholly-owned home completions for the year ahead, as against 59% a year ago.
Total forward sales were 14,058 homes compared to 15,402 a year ago.
Net private reservations per active outlet per average week for the period to August 28 were lower at 0.60 compared to 0.82 in the last financial year. The company said this reflected limited availability of homes for early occupation, given the “strong” forward order book, as well as heightened macro-economic uncertainty.
Barratt also said construction activity is on track to deliver planned output growth in the current year, with 366 homes per average week built to date. This compared to 336 homes a week in the last financial year.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was down 65 points at 7,234 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 13-point gain.
Brent crude futures were 0.92% lower at $91.98 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Full-year results: Barratt Developments, WH Smith