Chocolate site scheme tastes sweet for Boot

Firm on the march as profits increase

CONSTRUCTION GIANT Henry Boot hailed its work on The Chocolate Works in York as it grew its profits by 8.7 per cent to £22.6m.

In the six-month period to June 30 this year the Sheffieldbased business also boosted its operating profit to 8.1 per cent to £22.8m and delivered an earning per share of 13.1p, an increase of 10.1 per cent.

Its net debt rose from £56.2m to £62.2m and its net asset value per share rose to 184p from 171p.

John Sutcliffe, chief executive, told The Yorkshire Post that the results were a reflection of the success of the projects it was currently engaged in as well as a generally vibrant economy.

And, while he added that the economy was facing uncertainty, he said none of this was feeding though to his business.

Mr Sutcliffe said: “The development in York has progressed very quickly and better than we had anticipated.

“It is really positive at the moment. Clearly, there is a little bit of political uncertainty at the moment. Brexit is a divorce after a 45-year marriage which I suspect is going to get messy before it finishes.

“The real estate market thrives on confidence and stutters on uncertainty and that is a concern in the background.

“But in all honesty that is having no impact on our business whatsoever at the moment, it is very good out there. You have just got to see the results from the major housebuilders and we have got very little unemployment in the country at the moment.”

Mr Sutcliffe added the firm had picked up a lot of momentum in 2016 and that this had carried on into 2017.

Henry Boot is also at present carrying out a major hotel and conference facility development in Aberdeen as well as a number of prominent Yorkshire projects, including ones to develop St George’s Hall in Bradford and to transform the old Leeds Girl’s Grammar School into housing.

When asked if he felt Henry Boot was becoming a specialist at regenerating old sites, Mr Sutcliffe said: “We have found a positive market for us in the last couple of years.

“But if we think we can make a nice return and a nice development from an opportunity we will do anything.

“We have got 30 development opportunities around the country working their way forward to get to a building and development phase. We have a few schemes in terms of commercial developmental.

“We are not sat on our hands making returns from stock of sites it’s about replenishing it as well.”

The results were cheered by analysts, with one saying they were ahead of market expectations.

Guy Hewett, an analyst at Fincap, said: “Henry Boot has reported a strong set of results evidencing good growth and investment in opportunities that will support continued medium to long-term progress.

“Despite the more uncertain macro backdrop, the group continues to see a high level of demand for land and housing, and the commercial development portfolio is delivering ahead of expectations.”

Similarly, Numis’s Christen Hjorth said: “The board notes that the group is trading in line with expectations.

“We therefore leave our forecasts unchanged, but expect management’s track record of under-promising and over-delivering to continue.”

Chairman Jamie Boot said: “We continue to backfill the opportunity pipeline and invested some £21.8m in property investment assets with commercial development potential in Manchester and Nottingham, in addition to several strategic land sites, during the half year.

“We obtained planning consent on 2,675 plots in the period and have an 18,000-unit permissioned portfolio progressing towards sale in due course.”