Barratt Developments on way to hitting 2015 targets after strong H2

8th May 2014 07:38

House-builder Barratt Developments said it was already on the way to hitting targets next year and beyond as it reported strong second-half trading.Barratt said it expects to have secured more than a quarter of sales planned for the 2014/15 financial year by June, with planning now in place for 98% of total completions for that year.The group said it was also confident of achieving its 2015/16 return on capital employed target of 18% significantly ahead of schedule.Barratt, whose 2014 financial year ends on June 30th, said trading was strong across all its regions in the 18 weeks to May 4th, with total forward sales at May 4th rising 46.5% to £1.92bn against a year ago.Increased buyer confidence and better mortgage availability was underpinning strong demand. Customers, particularly first-time buyers, had used the British government's Help to Buy shared equity scheme in 2,150 reservations in the period.The group said it continued to see some ongoing improvements in underlying selling prices in all regions.In the 2013/14 year, it expects to see an increase in total average selling price driven by a combination of ongoing mix changes and some underlying price improvement.Chief Executive Mark Clare said: "We remain positive on the outlook for the group and expect to deliver a very strong performance for the full financial year whilst also being very well positioned for FY15." PW