Galliford Try confident of beating full-year profit forecasts

14th May 2014 07:44

- Upgrades profit forecast as housing market improves- Record 1bn pounds worth of house sales reserved- Growth constrained by supply issuesUK house builder Galliford Try said it expects to eclipse full-year profit expectations of 89.7m pounds and report no less than 92.0m pounds helped by a strengthening housing market. The FTSE-250 firm said a record £1.0bn of sales had been reserved across both Linden Homes and Galliford Try Partnerships. Around £790m is for the current financial year to June 30th 2014.It construction division also did well with the order book improving to £1.3bn from £1.25bn a year earlier. It has 80% of next year's revenue secured, up from 79% the previous year.Chief Executive Greg Fitzgerald commented: "The group has made strong progress since the start of the year particularly in house building where market conditions continue to improve. However the company cautioned that growth was constrained by supply of both labour and materials.Year-end net debt is expected to increase compared to June 2013 reflecting planned higher investment in land, it said.CJ