Housebuilders are still a risky bet February 24, 2010 DURING his election campaign, President Barack Obama told voters that America could “build itself out of recession”. That’s just what the housebuilders are hoping they can do. Barratt Developments was putting a brave face on it yesterday, as it reported higher operating margins and strong forward sales. Galliford Try and Kier Group were also cheery. [...]
Barratt in housing market boost February 24, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments saw its losses narrow in the second half of the year as the housing market showed further signs of finding its feet. Pre-tax losses came in at £178.4m compared to a loss of £594.5m a year earlier. However, it took a £129.9m hit from finance costs following its £720m placing and rights [...]
THE TIPSTER TIME TO GO DEFENSIVE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO February 21, 2010 VOLATILITY has been rising since the start of this year and all of these extreme moves can make investors dizzy. Now is a good time to switch to a more defensive stance on equities and invest in the likes of supermarkets and energy providers. These companies tend to perform strongly when risk aversion returns to [...]
Home owners paying lowest mortgage interest in years January 14, 2010 BARRATT Developments, the housebuilder, yesterday said recent bad weather had led to a flurry of online enquiries as it reported stronger first-half trading, adding to hopes the worst is over for the sector. Chief executive Mark Clare said online enquiries more than doubled in recent weeks as a countrywide cold snap forced many people to [...]
Barratt in housing market boost January 14, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments today fuelled hopes of recovery in the sector with rising volumes and prices bringing about an improvement in operating margins. The FTSE 250 group completed 5028 homes in the six months to 31 December and says it on track to hit its full-year targets of 12,000 completions. The average price of its [...]
Barratt reports jump in buyers November 17, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments said home buyers were coming back to the market, with private reservations per site up over a third on last year. The second largest housebuilder by market value saw net private reservations per site rise by 34 per cent, it said yesterday in a trading statement covering the 19 weeks to 8 [...]
Postal strife hurts Barratt October 27, 2009 PROPERTY group Barratt Developments yesterday voiced concerns that national postal strikes might affect the take-up of its £720m rights issue. Barratt Developments issued a notice to shareholders urging them to promptly take up their share entitlement, or use another courier service to return their applications. In a statement to the stock market yesterday, the company [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 15, 2009 BARRATT DEVELOPMENTSInvestec said that Barratt Developments is geared up disastrously to pay peak values for land and Wilson Bowden. The broker said that, at £1.3bn, net debt is still surprisingly high. With the firm reported to be considering a highly dilutive £500m rights issue at the end of the month, the broker rates the stock [...]
Barratt Developments set to launch 500m rights issue September 6, 2009 Housebuilder Barratt Development is expected to launch its £500m rights issue at the end of this month. Insurer RSA, rival housebuilder Redrow and several others are thought to be readying themselves to bid for the stake. The cash call is believed to be part of the group’s efforts to make further inroads into its £1.3bn [...]
Bovis Homes raises 60m in cash call September 3, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Bovis Homes yesterday launched a £60m share placing to take advantage of depressed land values. Bovis said that its recent half year results showed it had maintained a net cash position of £7m despite the economic turmoil and it was beginning to see a number of opportunities to acquire land for development. The group [...]