Record results for Deeside housebuilder Redrow as Chairman Steve Morgan looks to take a step back

Steve Morgan chairman of Ewloe based housebuilder Redrow has said he plans to ease back from the day-to-day running of the company.

The announcement came as Redrow reported record results this morning, pre-tax profits rose 26% to £315m in the year to the end of June with group turnover rising 20% to £1.66bn.

“Eight years after returning to Redrow, I have decided to ease back from a full time Executive role towards a Non-Executive role; the transition is to take place during the current financial year.

It is my intention to continue to focus with the Board on the strategic development of the business and I will retain my keen involvement with the product and key important projects.” Said Mr Morgan.

Redrow completed 5,416 new homes in the financial year, up 15% – the average selling price of a Redrow house rose by 7% to £309,800.

The results come despite overall housing transactions in the UK taking a dip due in part to ‘political uncertainty and increasing cost of moving home, particularly Stamp Duty’ a company statement says.

Operating expenses increased by £10m to £83m as Redrow continue to invest in the expansion of the business, it is also the first set of results to include operating expenses from the new East Midlands division which kicked in during February.

The continued growth of Redrow has seen 228 jobs created,  2,200 people now work directly for the company an increase of 12% on the year, Redrow also supports more than 30,000 subcontractor and supplier jobs.

Steve Morgan, Chairman of Redrow, said:

Redrow has continued to build much-needed new homes across England and Wales with completions up 15% to over 5,400.

Our growth strategy has delivered record financial results for the fourth consecutive year. Pre-tax profits were £315m, up 26% on the prior year, with a 27% increase in earnings per share to 70.2p.

Redrow began the current financial year with a record order book, up 14% year on year to £1.1bn. Sales in the first 9 weeks are very encouraging, up 8% on a strong comparator last year.

Based on the strength of our current performance and the robust demand that we are seeing, we are today updating our medium term guidance.

We now expect turnover in 2020 of c£2.2bn and pre-tax profit of c£430m. We expect the dividend in 2020 to rise to 32p per share.

Our strategy of continued growth for the business is on track. I am confident this will be another year of significant progress for Redrow.