West Midlands-based commercial and residential developer Catesby Property Group plc, has announced pre-tax profits of £9 million for the period up to December 2007, a 70% increase on the prior nine month period to December 2006. Shareholders funds also increased from £8million to £14.8million during the period.
The principal contributor to the Group’s success was the 120 acre Firstpoint site at Doncaster where three distribution warehouses totalling 920,000 sq. ft have been sold to Standard Life. Sales have also been negotiated on a further 43,000 sq. ft of office space and four acres of development land.
In addition, the construction of two speculative distribution units (totalling 115,000 sq ft) was completed in November at Vantage Point in Birmingham, with one sold in January 2008.
Refocusing its exposure in residential developments, the Group sold sites at Burton and Southport, ahead of the market’s downturn in the final quarter of the year. However, Catesby maintains substantial residential interests as a result of its land holdings in the Midlands and South West of England where it owns, or has options on, over 10,000 plots.
The most prominent of these residential investments is its Newark Future development which is being promoted for 5,500 new homes as part of the Government’s Growth Point Initiative. In addition, the Group is now actively involved in the marketing of the Meadow View development at Redbourn, owned by Catesby’s joint venture company, Donald Harrison Homes. This is now largely complete, with encouraging initial sales.
Paul Brocklehurst, managing director at Catesby Property Group said:
“Twelve months ago I said I was confident that we would be reporting our best results yet and I am very pleased that this has proved to be the case, notwithstanding the downturn in the property markets which occurred from the middle of the year. I am incredibly proud of the team’s achievements.”
Not one to dwell on the past, Brocklehurst already has his sights set firmly on the year ahead. He continued: “The Catesby team is determined to deliver a strong financial performance against the back drop of the challenges within the market. I am optimistic that this can be achieved. With a strong, ambitious and experienced team in place and with a lowly geared balance sheet we are set to weather the turbulence that remains in the market. Management and shareholders are committed to investing for the long term and I am sure that suitable opportunities will present themselves over the course of the next year.”
For more information about Catesby Property Group visit www.catesby-property.co.uk.
