Taylor Wimpey misses revenue and profit expectations

House builder, Taylor Wimpey, reported total revenue of 1,808m pounds last year, higher than the year before but short of consensus estimates.

The year before, the company generated revenue of £1,767.7m. Analysts had predicted a slightly bigger rise to £1,830m in 2011. Meanwhile, profits before tax came in at £89.9m, against expectations of £94.1m.

Full year operating profit was £159.5m, 81% up on the £88.3m achieved in 2010. The figure was also ahead of the £155m forecast by analysts at Northland Capital Partners.

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Taylor Wimpey saw 10,289 completions of house purchases, up slightly on the 2010 figure of 10,098; while its net asset value per share grew from 56.9p in 2010 to 57.3p in 2011.

The group's final dividend will be 0.38p per share, in 2010 there was no dividend.

Taylor Wimpey is explicit that it wants to drive growth through increased margins as opposed to focusing on volume. The return on operating assets figure, an important metric for the firm, grew from 5.3% in 2010 to 9.8% in 2011. Operating margin in the second half of 2011 was 10.1%.

The group's Chief Executive, Pete Redfern, said: "In 2011, we saw significant progress in our operational performance and I am pleased that we have reached our double digit operating margin target ahead of schedule.

"While wider economic conditions remain uncertain, the UK has seen a period of continued stability in the underlying housing market and strong growth across a number of areas as shown by our order book. We feel well-positioned to deliver further improvement through our value-driven strategy."

BS