The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Rajesh Patki - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Congrats on the good results. Got 3 questions, please. Firstly, within the forward sales position, ASP is 5% ahead of last year. Could you help us in
understanding what the private ASP and sort of what level of underlying house price inflation within that looks like. Second question is on margins.
You had earlier talked about a drift in margins. And this morning, you've mentioned about the dilutive impact from a higher affordable mix this
year. With the affordable mix...
(technical difficulty)
closer to sort of pre-COVID level...
Question: Rajesh Patki - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Yes, sorry. So the second question was on margins. You had earlier talked about a drift in margins. And this morning, you've mentioned about the
dilutive impact from a higher affordable mix this year. So with that mix reaching a more normalized level and completions reaching closer to
pre-COVID levels, would you expect margins to see some uplift in '22 and '23? And lastly, on land market, commentary seems to have improved
as you plan to get back to some GBP 500 million land investment. Does that mean your previous comments on allowing the land bank to drift back
are no longer applicable?
Question: Aynsley Lammin - Canaccord Genuity Corp., Research Division - Analyst
: Just 2 questions for me, please. First of all, on the mortgage market. Just wondered if you could give a bit more color what you see in the mortgage
market, the kind of providers becoming a bit more optimistic as well. And any thoughts you have on what we expected over the kind of mortgage
guarantee product that's been speculated or will be announced in the budget? And secondly -- question. Just any more color on kind of regional
differences you're seeing and any different pricing strengths in different parts of the country?
Question: Aynsley Lammin - Canaccord Genuity Corp., Research Division - Analyst
: Great. Actually, just one last one as well, actually, if you don't mind. The split between private and affordable, is that closer to 20% this year in '20?
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Question: Christopher James Millington - Numis Securities Limited, Research Division - Analyst
: A couple if I can, please. I mean, can you just comment on how much more money you'd like to see in WIP through the course of this year? I think
you did mention that you'd like to kind of update the build rate a little bit. The second one to ask really was about the role land creditors are going
to play in this increased land buying you're forecasting. And whether or not you're looking to run those up a little bit higher? And then just back
to Will's question before. I just wonder if you could make a quick comment about where you see the current capacity of the business in terms of
volumes based on your regional structure? That's all for me.
Question: Charlie Campbell - Liberum Capital Limited, Research Division - Analyst
: I had a couple of questions, please, if I can. Just going back to the idea of volume growth. Back in sort of the pre-COVID days, you sort of grew quite
happily, sort of, about 4% a year while still having a long land bank and the capital returns came through. Is that your thinking going forward that
you would be physically able to grow at that kind of speed while maintaining quality?
And the second question is sort of related. Just reading slightly between the lines in the statement. Do I get a sense that you think you might need
to be a bit more vertically integrated to continue to hit high quality as you scale up even further either in terms of kind of building materials or in
terms of construction labor?
Question: Gavin Andrew Jago - Barclays Bank PLC, Research Division - Analyst
: Just a quick one from me, hopefully. Just on the Future Homes Standard and sorry if I used the margin wordage, but just how you're thinking about
that and extra costs and how that might be impacting you or indeed, land availability?
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