Cala in line for 5th consecutive year of increased earnings

● Business achieves highest revenues yet as it looks to reach £1bn target by 2020

Upmarket housebuilder Cala is expecting to deliver its fifth year in a row of record profits with its annual turnover total to exceed £700 million for the first time.

However, the Edinburghbased firm has also called on the UK government to “urgently” reform the planning system to fulfil its pledge of a million new homes being built by 2020.

Chief executive Alan Brown told The Scotsman that all in all the 12 months marked “another record-breaking year” for the business, helping achieve its target of delivering an annual capacity of up to 2,500 units and £1 billion of revenue by 2020.

He also flagged a robust housing market in Scotland, citing Edinburgh as being particularly buoyant but with good growth elsewhere.

Sales for the 12 months to 30 June marked a yearon-year increase of about a fifth. It came despite a fall in Cala’s average selling price to £497,000, down from £538,000 a year earlier, which the firm attributed to a continued shift away from the £1m-plus market that now only accounts for 3 per cent of total group sales completions.

Total home completions jumped 46 per cent to 1,677, while the group secured planning permission on a further 3,156 plots across 33 sites with a potential gross development value of some £1.2bn.

Looking ahead, Cala said its “strong” level of forward private reservations, up 26 per cent, “provides the group with good visibility as it heads into the new financial year”.

It also said it continues to buy sites, and was active in the land market during the year, securing “high-quality opportunities” in locations including Edinburgh, Cults in Aberdeen and Newton Mearns to the south of Glasgow.

Brown added: “We enter the new financial year in a positive position with a strong level of forward private reservations that is actually ahead of our expectations. We continue to see good opportunities to buy high-quality land in attractive locations at affordable prices and I remain confident in both our near-term and longer-term growth plans.”

Brown also turned his attentions to the UK’S housing market, stating: “Following the general election result, we now have a Conservative government with a stated manifesto pledge to build one million new homes by 2020.

“However, if the UK is to standanyhopeofdeliveringon this aim, urgent reform of the planning system is required to remove the obstructions that are preventing us and other developers from getting on and building the homes the country desperately needs.”

Cala started out in 1875 as the City of Aberdeen Land Association and was the first Scottish company listed on the London Stock Market.

It was bought by private equity firm Patron Capital Partners and insurer Legal & General four years ago in a £210m deal. Last year, Chinese property developer Evergrande Group was named as a possible buyer of the business.