Avant mulls larger Scottish footprint

● Group growing overall reach after ‘landmark’ year with record sales

north Nottinghamshire – at the end of 2017.

Lewis said the group is looking to add two further regions, with Scotland a strong contender due to being a “very good” market.

Avant also highlighted that its owned and contracted land supply now stands at about 7,500 plots with a potential gross development value of £1.7 billion, and a site in the west of Scotland was among those acquired during the 2018 financial year. “With a continuation of supportive market conditions and ongoing momentum, the board expects [this] to be another record year,” Avant said.

Meanwhile, it emerged that in 2017 fellow housebuilder Miller Homes saw its sixth consecutive year of doubledigit profit growth to reach a record level. Operating profit hit £130.1m, a year-on-year jump of 26 per cent, and revenue £675m, up by 19 per cent.

Chris Endsor, chief executive of Miller, which was acquired by private equity group Bridgepoint in October, said the strong performance came despite much “corporate activity”. He added that trading in 2018 has remained strong: “We have plans to continue to invest significantly in new land opportunities underpinned by confidence in our regional markets.”