CALA Group has said a stock market flotation is not on the agenda at the moment as it unveiled strong profits and a plan to double the size of the company by 2017.

 

The upmarket house builder saw its turnover slide 5% from £253.7 million to £240.8m because of reduced revenue from residential land sales, down from £16.3m to £3.4m, and its final commercial property disposals coming in at £2.4m, against £4.5m in the prior year.

Average house prices slipped to £340,000 from £355,000, which was attributed to a slightly different mix of house styles and sites in the 12 months to June 30, 2013.

Home completions were down from 875 to 850, although the number of affordable homes sold fell from 209 to 156, meaning private sales were greater.

Better margins helped the Edinburgh business post a like-for-like rise in pre-tax profits from its housing operations from £9.1m to a record £12.5m.

Group pre-tax profits after exceptional items - £1.1m of acquisition costs and £600,000 of commercial property write-downs alongside a £200,000 gain on a land value write-back - came in at £11.1m compared to £11.4m in the previous financial year.

Net bank debt fell from £117.4m to £41.1m.

CALA was acquired from Lloyds Banking Group in March this year by private equity group Patron Capital Partners and insurance giant Legal & General in a deal valuing the business at more than £214m. Management at CALA retain a 7% stake in the company.

Keith Breslauer, managing director of Patron, said in April he expected CALA to come to the stock market in "four to five years".

Already this year, house builder Crest Nicholson and estate agents Foxtons and Countrywide have all listed on the London Stock Exchange. However, CALA chief executive Alan Brown confirmed yesterday that an initial public offering was not something being planned in the immediate future.

He said: "At the moment, we are going to look at doubling the size of the business by 2017 so we have more than enough to worry about. The focus is really on the growth of the business. Then, at some point in the future there may be an opportunity to do [an initial public offering] but it is not on the agenda at the moment."

The plans to grow CALA include expansion across all its bases. Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the south of England were identified as particular hot spots but Mr Brown said the business in the west of Scotland is also expected to show growth.

Mr Brown said: "We see [potential for] significant growth in all our operating areas. The market in the west of Scotland is stable and doing very well and we have a significant number of land opportunities there.

"We operate at the top end of the family housing market. It is all those parts of Scotland where people aspire to live [which in the west] includes the likes of Bearsden, Milngavie and Newton Mearns."

Government support schemes such as Help To Buy had an "indirect" impact on CALA sales by helping to generate activity further down the housing ladder and allowing some homeowners to trade up.

While Mr Brown described CALA as "cautiously optimistic" he admitted events such as the shutdown in the US and possible knock-on effects for the global economy could change circumstances in the UK market.

However, the company's current financial year has started well with trading 6% ahead of targets.

Mr Brown said: "That is significantly better than we would expect. It has been better in every region of operation although Aberdeen has been particularly strong.

"The west of Scotland has seen some increases in terms of volume."

CALA is operating from 25 UK sites, with Scottish developments at locations including Cults near Aberdeen, North Berwick, Waterfoot, East Renfrewshire and Lenzie.

The land bank stood at 10,016 plots at the end of the financial year, up from 9600, including a 2000-home development near Winchester, Hampshire.

Mr Clark signalled CALA continues to be active in snapping up land around the UK and was ahead of its acquisition targets in the first quarter of its current financial year..