Trading through the spring selling season has been good, Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.) will tell shareholders at today’s annual general meeting (AGM).
The FTSE 100 company said the bad weather round about the time of “The Beast from the East” had depressed demand for a while and affected the rate at which houses were built, but things have picked up again.
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Customer demand for housing continues to be strong, the house-builder’s AGM statement said, although completions are likely to be weighted more towards the second half of the year than in 2017.
The builder set it on track to meet full-year expectations and to end of the year with a net cash position more or less on par with the end-2017 position.
Build cost inflation is anticipated to be at similar levels to 2017, at around 3-4%, as previously indicated, the builder said.
Average private sales for the year to date were 0.85 per outlet per week (2017 equivalent period: 0.93) in line with Taylor Wimpey’s expectations. Cancellation rates remained low at 13% (2017 equivalent period: 10%).
As at 22 April 2018, the builder’s total order book value stood at around £2.16bn, compared to £2.21bn in the same period of 2017; this represents 9,050 homes, down from 9,219 homes in the same period of 2017.