Nish Malde, group finance director, said the company’s revenue, climbing 46% to £181.7m against 2020, was partly driven by the performance of its housebuilding and partnership housing divisions.
Housebuilding saw turnover grow to £69.9m from 2020’s £23.8m. In partnership housing, this increased 16.4% to £60.3m, due to increased demand from the Build to Rent sector.
Pre-tax profit for its financial year rose to £13.2m from 2020’s £3.4m. However, gross profit margins of both housebuilding and partnership housing had been “unsatisfactory”. Inland incurred a £3.5m unforeseen cost relating to a scheme, involving a civil engineering issue, Malde said. It also experienced cost inflation and extended construction periods.
Malde said: “There have been a multitude of costs for a number of reasons that have led to margins being depressed. We’re correcting those faults including improving our IT systems. But margins are now improving.” For 2021, Inland’s overall gross margin dipped to 17.6% against 2020’s 17.7%.
In 2021, 45% of Inland’s purchasers used Help to Buy against 56% in 2020. Malde said he expected that the government would offer a Help to Buy replacement when the initiative ends next April.
Malde explained: “Dropping the scheme will affect the market. Deposits are still an issue for purchasers. 95% mortgages will help but developers are developing sites that are going to be sold post-March 2023.”
“The market is reasonably strong but there are uncertainties out there. We think there will be another product although I haven’t heard anything concrete.”
