Housebuilder Barratt Developments reported a slight rise in interim profits and lifted its dividend despite an 11% fall in completions and weaker revenue.
The company posted pre-tax profit of £432.6m for the six months to December 31, up 0.6%. It completed 8,067 homes during the period. Revenue fell 9.9% to £2.2bn and the dividend was lifted by almost half to 11.2p a share.
Barratt lifted guidance for full-year completions to 18,000 – 18,250 from 17,750 – 18,000.
It added that net private reservations per active outlet per average week for January were 0.90, 16.9% above the 0.77 rate in the same period in 2021, reflecting continued strong demand.
Total forward sales at January 30 were 15,736 homes, up from 14,289 at a value of £4.1bn, up from 11,362.
