Barratt Developments share price up on positive outlook for coming year
Barratt Developments said it expects to deliver a significant improvement in performance over the next financial year, sending share price up by 0.82 per cent to £4.29 in morning trading.
In its interim management statement for the 19 week period ending 1 July, the UK home builder described market conditions as “robust”, with high levels of consumer interest and good demand across all regions of the country.
Private sales were up by 11.9 per cent at £1.26bn for the period, while joint venture private forward sales, which largely relate to London business, increased by 49.7 per cent to £293.1m.
Ahead of the company's annual general meeting at 2.30pm today, group chief executive Mark Clare said:
We are on track to see another significant improvement in performance by continuing to focus on delivering high quality, well designed homes in places where people want to live. Our disciplined approach to investment in new sites is underpinning our confidence that by FY17 we can deliver at least a 20% gross margin and a minimum return on capital of 25%.