Taylor Wimpey axed 450 jobs as construction giant sounds housing market warning
Up to 450 jobs have been cut as home construction firm Taylor Wimpey as it looks to deliver £19m in cost savings.
Ahead of its AGM today, the London-listed firm said spring had helped in year to date sales, while severe challenges remained for first time buyers still.
In a trading update, it said a targeted spending on marketing had helped keep consumers interested, with net private sales down on 2022, and cancellations marginally up.
Its total order book stood at £2.3bn down from £3bn in 2022, representing 8,576 homes, down from more than 11,000 last year.
Taylor Wimpey attributed the decline to inflation, but said it’s beginning to “moderate”, while there was “continued recovery in demand”.
It said there had been a focus on “operational discipline having tightened all areas” of the firm, including “restricted discretionary spend and reduced land buying”.
Taylor Wimpey to cut jobs
Among the major cost-saving measures, it competed a consultation in January to delivery annualised cost savings of £19m, with the costs to achieve £8m in this year alone.
It is understood this includes around 450 jobs at the London-listed firm’s Oxfordshire businesses. This includes some non-replacement roles where vacancies are closing.
It added that the changed to not affect Taylor Wimpey’s market coverage and ability to provide service to its customers.
“We have seen continued recovery in demand from the low levels experienced towards the end of 2022, supported by good mortgage availability, and have seen an incremental improvement in sales rate as the Spring selling season has progressed”, Jennie Daly, chief executive, said,
“While we remain cautious of continued macroeconomic uncertainty, Taylor Wimpey is a strong and agile business”.
At the AGM, Irene Dorner will step down as chair, and be replaced by Robert Noel.
Taylor Wimpey’s (TW) share price was trading fairly flat at 125.02p.