CRUDEN Group has hiked profits by nearly 50 per cent to £7.1 million in the year it successfully retrofitted the Athletes Village in Glasgow’s east end following the Commonwealth Games.
The group, a key member of the City Legacy consortium, handed over 400 houses to clients for rent after the retrofit, which took place in the weeks after Glasgow 2014 came to an end.
Only 40 of the 300 houses made available for sale are still on the market.
Work to retrofit the Athletes Village took place in the period covered by Cruden Group’s latest accounts, which have been audited and signed off but are not yet available at Companies House.
Cruden said its latest results mean it has delivered profits for the sixteenth year in a row.
The accounts show that turnover at the construction and housebuilding group rose by 5.5 per cent to £142.2m in the year ended March 31.
That came as Cruden’s dominant construction arm boosted revenue by five per cent to £129m.
Alongside the Games contract, it completed 145 flats at Salamander Place in Edinburgh in what Cruden said was the single largest National Housing Trust project in Scotland.
Cruden’s residential division sold 80 homes during the period, 10 fewer than the previous year. The group said this was because it had fewer properties on the market after developments had sold out.
The average selling price narrowed to £181,000 from £184,000 in 2014 due to the mix of units settling, Cruden said.
The directors said they expect to sell “substantially” more homes in the current year as new housing developments come on stream.
Cruden hailed the performance of the group amid tough market conditions, noting that its progress was reflected by steady housing reservations and growing visitor numbers to its residential sites.
Group managing director Kevin Reid said: “I am pleased to report a year of excellent progress with this strong set of results. With many new projects in the pipeline and a solid order book, combined with our cash positive position, we are well placed to continue to build on our successes through the remainder of this year and well into next.
“The Cruden Group continues to benefit from its balanced exposure to the construction and residential development sectors and whilst economic factors continue to create a degree of uncertainty within the market, the Group is extremely well placed to manage these risks.
“The foundation of our continued success is, and always has been, the excellent people we employ. Retention and recruitment of high quality staff remains one of the Group’s top priorities and investment continues to be made in this crucial area”.
Cruden’s residential arm continues to be involved multi-tenure regeneration projects, with 221 units available for sale in Raploch, Stirling, and 215 at Gracemount in Edinburgh.
A project to build a total of 373 units in Toryglen in Glasgow is continuing, 55 of which have been put up for sale.
Other ventures include Queensberry Properties, a partnership with Buccleuch Property, which is developing properties in two “prime sites” in Edinburgh.
Meantime, its construction arm continues to focus on the health and education sectors. It said this has led to projects such as a new care home and a student accommodation block in Edinburgh, as well as a primary school in East Lothian.
Chairman Mike Rowley said: “The Board is delighted with the progress made by the Group through 2014/2015 with this latest positive contribution continuing a now sixteen year unbroken profitable trading history, which encompassed one of the deepest financial crises in living memory.
“Going forward, we are confident that the Group is extremely well positioned to take advantage of the many new and existing opportunities that are available to us.”
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