"Taylor Wimpey has delivered a resilient performance in what continues to be a challenging market backdrop"
- Jennie Daly - Taylor Wimpey
Volume housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey has published its latest trading update on its performance since its half-year, revealing that it remains focussed on optimising price.
Jennie Daly, Taylor Wimpey's CEO said: “This performance is testament to the hard work of our experienced teams, who have continued to adapt and support customers through their buying journey while being focused on delivering efficiencies across the business."
Taylor Wimpey’s operating profit range for this year compares to the £923.4 million of 2022.
The housebuilder noted that the market continued to be affected by weak consumer confidence driven by high mortgage rates and cost-of-living pressures, with the market backdrop “remaining uncertain”.
During the second half of its year to date, the firm’s net private sales rate per outlet per week was 0.51, the same as the equivalent period last year. But excluding bulk deals, this fell slightly to 0.48.
For the year to date, it said its net private sales rate was 0.63 against last year’s 0.74, falling to 0.57 without the effect of bulk sales.
For 2023 so far, it has operated on an average of 239 sales outlets compared to last year’s 229. It is currently operating from 227 outlets.
Reacting to reduced market demand, Taylor Wimpey said it had “closely controlled” its costs and investment in work in progress, “with our teams focused on delivering efficiencies across the business”.
The firm still expects its home completions to be in the range of 10,000 to 10,500 homes, at the upper end of the originally quoted 9,000 to 10,500 homes. This is still notably down on the 14,154 completions of 2022.
Jennie Daly commented: “Taylor Wimpey has delivered a resilient performance in what continues to be a challenging market backdrop, reporting a robust sales rate and strong financial position, and reiterating our full year 2023 UK volume guidance in the range of 10,000 to 10,500 homes.
“Taylor Wimpey is a strong, sustainable and agile business underpinned by a robust balance sheet and an excellent well-located landbank. These attributes ensure we are well positioned to manage the business and optimise performance in all market conditions, delivering quality homes to our customers and long-term growth and value to our stakeholders.”
