Profits for House Builders.

[Time's Ran Out]

Did we notice on the news that a couple of the House builders have posted pre-tax profits for the first 6 months - is this a sign of the recovery in our industry or a false dawn?
Both are based in the North.
Look forward to some of the others to see if its a trend.
As a note of hesitation, I've got a job to do for a CE of another company and he wasn't as optomistic a couple of weeks ago.
So take care and don't go out spending until its in the bank.

 

[kilty55]

i would love to think that things were on the up but i dont think they are yet,before the elcetion john things were well on the mend here but have since gone back to what it was like 12 months ago dire sums it up,im pricing jobs at 15 a metre and losing out and have been getting numerous reports from the tile shops that fixers are doing stone jobs for a tenner a metre.

ive got a subby job for a plumber in edinburgh on friday who is so keen to save pennies hes wanting me to park up 2 miles away from the job in his yard and hes going to pick me up and take me back after the job just to save the 10 quid parking charge:8: theres my rant for the day:smilewinkgrin:

 

[kilty55]

Google Image Result for http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/09/article-1093275-02D6005D0000044D-559_468x478.jpg


bovis had a good 1st 6 months but said the same thing since the election its looking as it was last year,,maybe the double dip hitting now? or with the pay offs coming in the government do you think we shall recover slightly again then take a 3 rd hit? bugger this im going fishing:drool5:

 

[Scott]

I think its a false dawn, with the VAT in January and the difficulty they are having with inflation i reckon they may increase the interest rates early next year.

Inflation will be higher with the VAT increase and i know they take this into account, or are supposed to but they always seem to have a problem with inflation after Christmas and the January sales. Nothing seems to pick up and recover until everyone wakes up from hibernation at Easter.

 

[Olz]

Nah,

Until recently the missus worked for persimmon, they've merged regional offices together to half operating cost, got rid of management, office staff, admin, sales and other staff from that side of the business, they've got site managers running countless sites instead of the old one per site, there not opening new sites until old ones are completed and sold, and there slashing prices, auctioning off part ex stock and much more,

The site the missus worked on had the utilities cut off on a frequent basis becuase they werent even paying the bills.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

They must be doing something right - £80million Net Profit for 6 months,
Market value of 1.07 Billion and almost 59,000 plots to build on. and CEO reckons prices can fall 10% without it affecting profits.
Lets hope they start re building their employment base and help those that have built it to it's position at No.3!

 

[Scott]

I see Ollies point, this is what happened with B&Q and Homebase earlier this year. They renegotiated shop leases, swopped utility companies, merged delivery depots etc to save money and showed a great profit. However this wont/cant be repeated next year so will again give a false idea that things have not been as good as this year.

 

[mikethetile]

these results reflect the previous governments policies

we are in the second quarter so we will have to wait for the 3 quarter to see what effect the new goverment is having