Countryside shrugs off Brexit concerns with soaring revenue and profits
Housebuilder Countryside has laid solid foundations for 2017 after making a return to the London Stock Exchange earlier this year.
The figures
Adjusted revenue was up 26 per cent from £615.8m in 2015 to £777m, while adjusted operating profit rose 34 per cent to £122.5m from £91.2m.
Basic earnings per share were up 209 per cent from 4.4p to 13.6p and Countryside announced a dividend per share of 3.4p.
Completions for the year in total were also up – from 2,364 last year to 2,657 in 2016.
The firm announced a private average selling price of £465,000, up a fifth from last year which was £385,000.
Read more: Estate agent shares are being demolished after the Autumn Statement
Why it’s interesting
Last month both Countryside and Telford Homes said house sales were bouncing back after the Brexit vote, and the former's full-year results reaffirm that the referendum result hasn’t slapped down the appetite for new homes in the UK just yet.
Countryside said current trading “remains robust with sales rates and values above year end numbers”, while the markets it operates in have recovered since the EU referendum vote in June. It noted that any softness in higher price points had been “more than compensated for” by its lower priced homes and the company’s partnerships division which delivered a strong performance.
Read more: This property firm hasn't felt any Brexit effect
What the company said
Group chief executive Ian Sutcliffe said:
We enter the 2017 financial year in a strong position with an industry leading land bank and record private forward order book.
Our strategy remains to deliver growth, increasing returns and capital efficiency from our balanced business models of housebuilding and partnerships.
We see significant growth opportunities in partnerships with increased estate regeneration in London and our geographic expansion into the West Midlands.
In short
Brexit, what Brexit? The Essex-based company has had an impressive set of results for the year.