TW’s operating profit down 49%

Taylor Wimpey’s full year operating profit was at the top end of its expectations, but still 49% down on its previous year. At the same time, the volume housebuilder said it had seen some “encouraging signs of improvement” in the housing market.

The company also commented that it would “co-operate fully” with the new investigation the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened into evidence indicating that some housebuilders, including Taylor Wimpey, may be sharing commercially sensitive information with their competitors, which could be influencing the build-out of sites and the prices of new homes.

Giving its full year results for the year ending December 31 2023, Taylor Wimpey said its full year group operating profit was £470.2 million against 2022’s £923.4 million. It previously provided a range of £440 million to £470 million.

Pre-tax profit dropped 42.8% to £473.8 million. Revenue decreased 20.5% to £3,514.5 million.

TW’s operating profit margin slid from the previous year’s 20.9% to 13.4%. It said this reflected rising build costs - at 8.5% year on year – which were not fully offset by price growth, coupled with the effect of overhead costs being recovered across fewer completions.

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