Mactaggart & Mickel Group, the award winning Scottish family housebuilder, has published positive results for the year ended 30 April 2015. Group turnover is up 16% to £68 million (2014: £58.5 million) with profits before tax increasing 21% to £9.8 million (2014: £8.1 million).
The results maintain its strong performance from 2014 which saw the Group return to pre-recession profit levels. An ongoing focus on growing income from external markets through each of its divisions has paid dividends with profits increasing across these business units, while the Group’s flagship Homes business continues to deliver robust returns.
Operational highlights include:
- Homes – Homes remains the cornerstone of the business contributing turnover of £48.5m (2014: £44m). Forward sales of 82% have been secured in the current trading year.
- Timber Systems – Turnover increased to £5.4m (2014: £4.3m) as the division strengthened its management team and improved productivity through further capital investment in its manufacturing facility. Contract wins with new and repeat residential and commercial property clients secured a healthy order book.
- Contracts – Reduced turnover of £10.4m (2014: £13.3m) as the division completed the retrofit of 225 units at the multi-award winning Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village. Several ongoing social housing contracts and a focus on growing its external customer base have resulted in a comfortable pipeline of contracts for the current financial year.
- Commercial Property – An annual profit of £0.7m represents a substantial increase on the previous year (2014: £0.4m) with overall asset value of £5.8m. The Group completed the sale of its first commercial property development at Dalkeith for £2m marking a significant milestone.
- Lettings – Income totalled £3.4m (2014: £3.3m) and overall asset value of £60m. Underperforming assets were disposed of to fund a reinvestment strategy outwith Scotland.
- Strategic Land – Investment of £0.8m across the year grew the company’s English landbank to more than 1,310 acres across 20 sites. Three planning applications were submitted in Scotland, for 423 units, and over 1,460 units were secured from greenbelt near Bath, Gloucester and Liverpool. The first English land sale was also settled, to Persimmon Homes at Shavington, Cheshire.
Chief executive Ed Monaghan commented: “This year marks our 90th in business and the fourth of our five year plan. We have consolidated last year’s outstanding performance with another period of growth and improved profitability.
“While we have seen footfall and sales at our sites increase, like every other housebuilder, we have been watching with interest the situation with the scheme that is set to replace Help to Buy (Scotland). The original initiative was a real boost to the industry when it was introduced but we saw it fully subscribed in just a few months this year and we await with interest the detail around the new scheme.
“Our other business units have now established themselves as profit centres with milestones including our first land sale in England and our Commercial Property division’s first development sale. The focus now is on growing income from external sources to ensure we are fully exploiting our skills base and capabilities.”
Mactaggart & Mickel Group was named Employer of the Year at the 2015 Homes for Scotland Awards. Site manager Stuart Gillespie, based at Greenan Views in Ayr, was recognised as the best in the UK for the second year running in the Medium Builder category at the National House Building Council’s Pride in the Job Awards, considered the ‘Oscars’ of the industry. The innovative Polnoon development in Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire was awarded a prestigious Saltire Award in 2015 for Innovation in Housing.
For more information on Mactaggart & Mickel Group visit www.macmicgroup.co.uk
