‘Mixed’ picture for Henry Boot as interim numbers fall despite strong land sales

Revenue and profit are down at Henry Boot, despite strong land and property sales.

Interim results for the six months to 30 June showed the development and construction firm completed and exchanged on total property sales of £150.8m, up from £129.3m in the equivalent period the year prior.

But revenue dropped to £106m, from £180m last time, while pre-tax profit was substantially down, from £25m to £3.7m.

Tim Roberts, chief executive officer at Henry Boot, said the firm had “started to see an improvement in our markets” during the first half of the year, which had helped it achieve “relatively strong property sales”.

“The lower forward sales with which we started the year has affected our first half financial performance and as flagged at the time of our 2023 results, we expect 2024 to be heavily weighted towards the second half,” he said.

Roberts added that the business was on track to perform in line with market expectations for the full year and that there was “plenty of opportunity to grow in order to meet our stated medium term targets”.

Andy Murphy, director of content for industrials at investment research firm Edison Group, said the half-year results presented a “mixed” performance, contrasting the strong land and property sales with declines in revenue and profit.

“This decline largely stems from a lower starting forward sales position,” he said. 

“However, the company has completed or reserved 81% of its budgeted sales for 2024, showing positive momentum for the future.”