Henry Boot, the Sheffield-based land, property development, home building and construction businesses, has seen a decline in revenue and profit, with a challenging start to 2024 being followed by a strong second half.
2024 saw revenue come in at £328.4m, in comparison to £359.4m in 2023, with Henry Boot pointing to reduced turnover in its construction segment.
Profit before tax reached £30.7m, down from £37.3m in 2023, in line with expectations, with an underlying profit of £29.4m, decreasing from £36.7m.
Demand for the business’s land, prime development and premium homes, however, remained resilient, seeing Henry Boot complete almost £350m in land and property sales, with its share at £224m.
Hallam Land, the firm’s strategic land and planning promotion arm, exceeded its 2024 financial performance expectations with 2,661 plots being sold (2023: 1,944), and secured 10 new sites with the potential to deliver 6,500 plots. During the year consents were secured on 2,982 plots, increasing the total plots with planning permission to 8,822.
The gross development value (GDV) of property developer HBD’s completed schemes amounted to £331m (HBD share of £188m GDV), of which 72% have been pre-let or pre-sold, while the HBD arm now has a £1.4bn development pipeline.
The construction segment, meanwhile, generated turnover of £80.5m, down from £99.5m in 2023, with an operating profit of £4.9m, decreasing from £6.5m.
Tim Roberts, CEO at Henry Boot, said: “As anticipated, after a challenging start to the year we delivered a strong second half which allowed us to report results in line with expectations.
“In particular, demand for our high quality land, prime development and premium homes has remained resilient. This led to us successfully completing almost £350 million in land and property sales and continuing to lease up space, including setting a record office rent in Manchester at our Island development.
“Our investment portfolio also recorded another period of outperformance, with a total return of almost 10% for the year, meaning it has returned more than double the index over the last five years. We also continued to shape the business, with the agreed buyout of our JV partner at Stonebridge Homes, where we are now the majority owner. We will take full ownership of this premium housebuilder in the coming years, continuing to scale the business up, and delivering synergies as we integrate it into Henry Boot.
“At Hallam Land, we’ve been quick off the mark in strengthening our team, so we are well prepared to capitalise on the positive changes to the NPPF, by increasing our planning applications fourfold to 10,000 plots over the next 12 months.
“At HBD, we’ve formed the Origin JV which we believe will help us to accelerate the delivery of our institutional quality industrial development pipeline. All of this, along with our rock-solid balance sheet, the prospect of recovering markets, and an easier planning environment, means we are well placed for the future.”
