FAMILY-owned housebuilder and construction firm Mactaggart & Mickel has more than doubled its profits in its most recent financial year.
The Glasgow's company's annual report, published today, also shows an eight per cent increase in turnover from £55.5 million to £58.5m in the 12 months to April 30 this year. Underlying pre-tax profits rose from £3.4m to £8.06m in the period.
The homes division was the biggest contributor as the number of completions rose from 108 to 133 - which was better than had been anticipated - while average prices increased from £252,000 to £281,000. Chief executive Ed Monaghan said the company was continuing to see strong house sales in its current financial year in spite of uncertainty around Help to Buy funding in Scotland and a slowing of activity ahead of the referendum.
He said: "Generally all our developments performed better than expected. At the start of the year we got the benefit of Help to Buy with about 30 per cent of our sales coming through that initiative. I think that helped throughput in the industry generally.
"Help to Buy in Scotland in this financial year is no longer available as the pot has run dry. There is a new allocation from April 1 2015. The likelihood is that there will have to be additional funds to that £100m to sustain the momentum that housebuilding is benefiting from."
The MacMic contracts arm saw its turnover dip from £21.5m to £13.3m as a result of the end of the Commonwealth Games athletes' village construction phase. However the division was said to have quadrupled its margins and increased profitability. Mr Monaghan said: "Now we have [the village] back and are busily retrofitting it for private sale and the social housing market.
"We are very much a niche player building affordable and council houses but we see some opportunities down the line [in contracts]."
The timber systems arm, which also supplies to rival housebuilders, saw its turnover fall from £6.9m to £4.3m as a result of lower supply into the Commonwealth contract. The letting division was steady with turnover of £3.3m while the commercial property arm saw a slight rise in revenue to £410,000. The group also completed its first English land sale contract with a site in Shavington, Cheshire, expected to have capacity for 200 homes.
MacMic said it has planning applications lodged for 1,023 units while its English land bank has grown to more than 1,300 acres.
The group completed its first English land sale contract for 200 new homes in Shavington, Cheshire. Planning applications are now lodged for 1,023 units and its English land bank has increased to over 1,300 acres across 20 projects.
While Mr Monaghan was bullish about the group's current trading he admitted there may be a slowing of activity ahead of the UK general election. He said: "We may experience a slight hiatus then as we experienced in the run-up to the referendum. Generally we're in good shape and confident about the year we are in."
Mr Monaghan said he could understand the ideas behind the new land and transaction tax in Scotland, which sees changes to the duty paid on house purchases, but admitted until it comes into force it is difficult to assess what impact it may have.
Although he acknowledged there was a growing premium being paid for skilled labour and sub-contractors he feels the group is reasonably well placed as it has retained a workforce of nearly 300 and continues to train apprentices.
He said: "Skills are to the fore when I speak to other [managing directors] of businesses. It is one of the first things I now talk about."
Mr Monaghan said there were no specific acquisition targets being considered at the moment and added: "It is not lost on the group to grow in that way but at the moment the focus is on organic growth."
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