Housebuilder Redrow unveils its worst ever annual results
HOUSEBUILDER Redrow yesterday announced its worst ever yearly trading results, after its revenue dropped by more than half to £301.8m.
The company may now be forced to launch a rights issue to boost its capital and finance land purchases.
Group revenue fell from £650.1m for the same period a year ago, in line with tough times in the housing market. As well as trading losses of £44.2m, the company faced exceptional charges of £96.6m, making a pre-tax loss of £140.8m. The average sales price of its houses dropped 12.4 per cent to £137,400.
On a positive note, Redrow managed to reduce its net debt by eight per cent year-on-year to £214m
Executive chairman Steve Morgan, who originally set up the firm and rejoined it in March, described the results as “intensely disappointing” and said they were the worst in the company’s history. However he said further write-downs were unlikely.
Under its recovery plan, Redrow has cut the number of housing types on offer from 80 to 32 and between June 2008 and April this year it halved its workforce to 652.
Morgan added that the current financial year had started well.