<p><span>Taylor Wimpey has hailed an “excellent” first half performance although its revenue dipped 5.4%.Its full year group operating profit is expected to be at the top end of its expectations.</span></p> <p><span>Reporting on its half year covering the six months to July 3 2022, the volume housebuilder said its revenue reached £2,076.8 million against H1 2021’s £2,196.3 million. This reflected a drop in completions against the same period last year; 6,587 versus H1 2021’s 7,219, following the prior period’s “record levels”, the company said. But H1 2022 completions were still “slightly ahead of guidance”.</span></p> <p><span>Meanwhile, pre-tax profit during the half year was up 16.3% to £334.5 million. Taylor Wimpey’s group operating margin increased to 20.4% against H1 2021’s 19.3%.</span></p> <p><span>Its half year net private sales rate was 0.90 homes per outlet per week, slightly down on the previous year’s 0.97. The private average selling price of its homes rose 3.1% to £337,000. During the period, it opened 50 new outlets (H1 2021: 37).</span></p> <p><span>As of July 3 2022, its total order book represented </span><span>10,102 homes</span><span> </span><span>with a value of £2,800 million (July 4 2021: 10,344 homes with a value of £2,608 million).</span></p> <p><span>The business anticipates full year group operating profit to …