By Scott Wright
CRUDEN Holdings has hailed its “resilience” amid the disruption to housebuilding activity brought by the pandemic as new accounts reveal leaps in both turnover and profitability at the builder.
The Edinburgh-based company, which builds houses to sell under its own brands and for clients in the public and private sector, reported a 29 per cent rise in turnover to £247.4 million in the year to March 31, including from its share in joint ventures. Profits grew to £4.9m from £0.3m, the accounts show.
Having seen its accounts for the previous two years disrupted by the pandemic, freer conditions allowed Cruden to build more homes last year, with the company also highlighting the benefit of higher margin activity.
The accounts show that the company completed 174 homes over the period, up from 159 during the year before, as Cruden declared that the underlying demand for new housing had underpinned the resilience of the market.
The average price it achieved rose to £314,000 from £225,000, “due to the mix of units settling”.
Cruden noted that the company was facing “industry-wide” supply-chain challenges, including over the availability and pricing of raw materials and staff shortages, and cited the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Brexit, and lasting effects of the pandemic.
But it declared that the group “maintains a robust forward pipeline of work both in housebuilding and construction.”
The directors state: “The group’s activities benefit from the ongoing strength of demand for new-build housing, both for private sale and from housing associations and local authorities.”
The company completed an internal restructure in February that saw it combine its two construction operating companies, Cruden Building (East) and Cruden Building (West) into single entity, with nearly 500 employees.
With the new name of Cruden (Building) Scotland, the company said the change was made to reflect its “national focus” and had been the “next step in achieving the Cruden Group’s strategic goal of establishing a consistent construction offering across the Central Belt of Scotland, following previous re-brandings.”
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