Profits build at Mactaggart & Mickel amid UK expansion

● Headline pre-tax profit and turnover both rise by 11% ● Scots firm opens new English base in Cheltenham

Housebuilder and property developer Mactaggart & Mickel Group has put itself on track for a seventh year of profit growth after booking a double-digit rise over the latest 12-month period.

The result was boosted by a strong performance from the Glasgow-headquartered group’s growing operations south of the Border.

The fourth-generation firm, which was founded in 1925, hailed a key milestone this year with the opening of its first office outside Scotland – in Cheltenham – and the start of on-site works at its development at Milton-under-wychwood in Oxfordshire.

Financial results for the year to the end of April reveal an 11 per cent hike in profit before tax to £14.2 million, from £12.7m previously – marking its sixth consecutive year of growth. Group turnover was up by the same percentage, to £82.3m, from £74.3m.

The Mactaggart & Mickel Homes Scotland division reported a “solid” performance with turnover rising to £63.2m from £62m though gross profits cooled to £12.9m, compared with £15.1m the year before.

The division sold 196 homes over the course of the financial year, up from 167. Three new developments were launched in Scotland – Buchanan Views in Killearn, Lethington Gardens in Haddington and Carrongrove in Denny.

At the group’s English strategic land division, continued investment in promoting land through the planning process and successfully securing residential consents resulted in revenues jumping to £8.1m, from £4.7m.

Chief executive Ed Monaghan said the strategy of expanding into the wider UK housebuilding market was now firmly cemented with the opening of the new English HQ in Cheltenham and the acquisition of additional sites for future development in Oxfordshire.

“We kicked off our diversification strategy back in 2010 and it was always our intention to extend our reach,” he said. “We see good opportunities [in England]. It’s been a good experience for us and we look forward to doing more.

“Cheltenham has given us a good base to work from but we don’t want to stretch our lines too far at this stage.”

Monaghan described the outlook as bright despite the uncertainty surrounding the UK’S departure from the EU.

“All our markets are pretty stable at the present time,” he noted. “Generally, there is a malaise around the whole Brexit thing but until it actually happens most businesses are just getting on with it.

“We are taking the necessary measures to make sure that our supply chains are robust come Brexit.”

The firm said its expansion planswouldleadtotherecruitment of a number of people over the coming months, in Scotland and England.