Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the half-year results for the six months ended 30 November 2025 for Springfield Properties. I am Innes Smith, and to my right is Iain Logan. Delivering results, we're pleased to announce that our results are in line with expectations. We've seen increases in revenue up to GBP 108 million on the same period last year, and profit up by 8%, and net debt continuing its route downwards to GBP 39 million from GBP 63 million in the previous period. We're pleased to announce that we've started executing on the new strategy, which is allocating our capital to the north, where there is a big upgrade to infrastructure and electric and with the freeports.
We signed an initial agreement with SSEN in December, which basically is for 293 houses. We're really well placed to provide more housing to the infrastructure people as we go forward. Added to this, we have a quality land bank with significant land holding in the north, and we're looking at expanding that through the local plan, where submissions are being sought just now. In the Highlands, in particular, there is a doubling of submissions that have been sought, up from 12,000 houses to 24,000, and we have a substantial, just about 50% of that 24,000, housing that we are promoting. We're on track to deliver growth in private and affordable housing in the full year.
Again, in line with market expectations and these first half results, the reduction in net debt gives the board confidence to continue with the dividend policy. It's worth just reminding everyone about the opportunity that we have up north. Basically, the U.K. uses something like 50 gigawatts of power, and over the next 10 years, it's estimated to increase to 75 gigawatts. The increase in energy means that we're going to have to get more power. More power is going to have to come from wind, it's going to have to come from gas, oil, nuclear, all of those, all of those sources. We are particularly lucky in the north of Scotland because we... and this sounds, sounds incredible, this, but we have very good wind up north.
The wind that we have is constant, and I guess it's something to do with the geography of the North Sea. Because the wind is constant, that's exactly what wind turbines need. The wind turbines basically are being put out, floating and fixed offshore. The electricity then comes onto land, and then it gets distributed across the U.K. You can see in that map there the amount of renewable projects that are going on. Now, one of the things that I think's been kind of maybe not explained as well is the increase in electricity. If you take a house, we now have electric car charge points, we now have air source heat pumps, we have the data centers across the U.K. for AI.
So there's a huge requirement for energy, and that's leading to SSEN, in particular. They're investing, I think, GBP 30 billion in the network and GBP 20 billion, in particular, in the north of Scotland. This involves upgrading all of the pylons, involves upgrading all of the substations. So a significant amount of work and a significant amount of jobs will be created as this transition takes place. These jobs are created, obviously, SSEN, the councils don't want to see hotels fully booked up and hotel prices going up and tourism affected. They don't want to see the private market affected, so rentals, so that local people still need to be able to rent properties.
So one of the solutions that they've got, SSEN, is that they're committed to contribute towards 1,000 houses to house the workers, and they will leave a legacy in that those houses will revert back to local councils at discounts, and that will be their legacy to the community. And what it does is, it gives the workers a stable environment and a good environment to live and to stay. In addition to all of these temporary jobs where people will have to come in, we have the Freeport investment that is going on. And those four ports, Inverness, Cromarty, Nigg, and Ardersier, have significant investment. Well over GBP 1 billion has already been spent in these areas. A number of jobs have already been created. In Nigg, the port there was recently sold to Japanese firm, MOL Limited.
They are, I think, GBP 120 million, they bought the port for, and we have Sumitomo building a GBP 350 million cable factory. Should be finished, I think it's next year. Massive amount of expansion there. At Ardersier, probably the most exciting one, is over GBP 300 million has been spent getting the port back into use. At this point in time, there is a completely clean, unused area, and there is lots of talk of Mingyang, Chinese firm, potentially investing GBP 2.5 billion, if U.K. government accepts it. That would be the windfall site for us, because that's local to our area. It would obviously be heavy investment. It would be investment now.
Obviously, they're holding off to wait and see, because one operator in the port would be, you know, the ideal solution, as opposed to having seven or eight different operators. If that was to happen, then it really would be a bit of a gold rush, and opportunities above and beyond the SSEN opportunities would come our way. Now, delivering on the new strategy, the specific announcement that we made regarding SSEN, the proposal is basically that we have six sites, and we've some 293 homes across Highlands, Moray, and Aberdeenshire. We will effectively build these houses on existing sites which have planning, and we will basically make them available for rental to SSEN and their tier one contractors, the likes of Balfour Beatty, BAM Nuttall.
That will be for a four-year period with potential for extension, as the project may take longer, and these houses will be completed over the next few years. Now, why this is exciting for us is that these houses will get built, and the initial agreement that's signed is basically paying for getting planning for doing investigations. The main works agreement, which is the second one that we're working on just now, and we are very positive or very hopeful that we will get signed within the next 6-8 weeks, will basically, in the main works agreement, we will get the work in progress of those houses funded by SSEN, and then at the same time, we will sign a lease with the tier one contractors.
So effectively, our working capital, which we estimate to be about GBP 70 million, will be funded by SSEN, and then we will be renting these properties out to the Tier 1 contractors for a period. We will obviously service the apartments, you know, clean them, pay for the electricity. So slight change in what we're doing, but it means we get income, regular income for four years, and then at the end of that period, we will give half of those houses, roughly, maybe a little bit more, back to Highland Council, Moray Council, at roughly half the price. And that discount is obviously built up in the rent, so we get a bigger rent to pay for the discount, and it gets spread over the, the four years, that discount. So very attractive for us.
It's a really good return on our capital, and at the end of the period, we are keeping our options open. We may decide to sell them to the private market because then the Freeport jobs will be coming. We may decide to continue renting. We may sell them as a package to a PRS provider. So we are keeping our options open on that. So there's a brief overview, and ... Generally, if we were doing this in person, we'd open up for questions just now, but obviously, with the webinar, we'll wait until the end. So this is an important part of our story. It is a differentiator between us and the other house builders, so very pleased to take any questions on this later on. Iain?
Thanks, Innes. Morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report on the solid financial performance for the six months to 30 November, 2025. Increased revenues, increased profits, and a substantial reduction in bank debt, and on our confidence to deliver full-year results in line with expectation. Revenue for the six months was GBP 108 million, versus GBP 106 million in the prior period. Lower private revenues were offset by increased affordable revenues and higher land sales. The land sale being the final Barratt sale from the deal that was signed in the last financial year. Gross margin was 15.8%, versus 17.7% in the prior period. We had a slightly lower private margin, and in the prior period, we had an exceptionally high land sale margin.
Although the land sale margin was slightly lower this year, it was still 1.2 times book value, which again, is a positive for us. Admin expenses reduced by GBP 1 million due to the ongoing cost control measures in place and the restructuring in line with the group's strategy. Adjusted profit before tax, which is our key metric, was GBP 4.1 million, an increase of from 3.8 in the prior period. Again, that was pleasing, and at the bottom of the slide, we've highlighted before the substantial reduction in bank debt to GBP 39 million versus GBP 63 million in the prior period, something we've got continued focus on. So if we go on to the next slide. So in terms of private housing, so our completions and revenue was lower than the previous period.
This was a result of the lengthening of the sales cycle that we've previously highlighted. Average selling price increased due to the mix of the homes we handed over in the period, and on an underlying basis, selling prices were robust across all of our brands. The gross margin was slightly lower. Again, this is due to increased costs and time to complete sites, a trend seen across the wider sector at the moment. Affordable housing continues to be a real positive for the group, and especially strong in the north of Scotland. We've seen a 26% increase in revenue to GBP 26 million, with higher selling prices achieved as a result of the grant subsidy in the previous year coming through. And again, the gross margin is strong at 14%. Contract housing revenues and margins were down just because we had fewer completions.
In the prior period, we had an affordable phase, whereas in this half, it was just private homes. Land sales mentioned GBP 10 million versus GBP 5 million in the previous period. There were two land sales in the period, one of which mentioned was a Barratt sale. The land sales in the period were at 1.2x book value, which again, demonstrates the strength and the value of our land bank, and we continue to see a strong interest in the land bank. In terms of next slide, please. Going on to bank debt, this again highlights the positive trend downwards from November 2024 to November 2025, a big reduction down to GBP 39 million. The main inflows in the period, GBP 40 million of land sale cash receipts, GBP 27 million of operating profit.
The main outflows, GBP 9 million in relation to land we've purchased and GBP 10 million for bank interest and tax payments. Quite a big tax payment in there, resulting from the significant profit we made in the May 2025 year end.
... We've also got a working capital outflow in the period of GBP 20 million as a result of new sites being opened up. But again, the positive is that downward trend that we're seeing. So on to the next slide. In terms of the balance sheet, our main metric, as we've discussed, is the bank debt, which again, the positive trend downwards. We've got new bank facilities in place for the next three years, and again, worth highlighting the net assets of the group are GBP 172 million. Next slide. So this slide shows the growth and net asset value per share from listing in 2017 to November 2025. It also includes the fact that we've paid GBP 24 million of dividends in the period, and we've achieved a CAGR rate of 15%.
Okay, we mentioned earlier on at the start about our high-value land bank. We have some 7,300 owned and contracted plots, 4,300 in the north. As I mentioned, 24,000 houses are being sought by the Highland Council through their call for sites. Similar things happening in Moray, and we have some 5,000 plots already secured and contracted, and we're promoting a further 5,000 on behalf of people in that land bank. So we are the main players through our brand, Springfield and Tulloch, in the area. That puts us in a very strong position going forward, with the big increase that's coming in the area from the infrastructure upgrades. So we're very pleased with that.
We've been reinvesting from Central Belt in the north, and that has proven to be a very, very good and strong strategy. Operational review. So our update for the first half of 2026, our completions are as expected. We were prudent with our projections for this year because we were not expecting a big upturn. We have seen an interest rate reduction in December, but I think us and everyone else saw the lull prior to the never-ending budget that eventually came along and went probably with a bit of a damp squib. There wasn't much in it for housing, positive or negative, but today we see inflation figures down again. We don't believe yet that consumer confidence is fully back. However, we have seen a moderate improvement in this January compared to January of 2025.
So we are seeing good, strong quality reports, 97% still customer satisfaction rating, and a lot of this is down to the quality of houses we built, which are energy efficient. We offer a significant amount of choices to our customers. So you choose the paint colors, you choose the kitchens, you choose the bathroom tiles, and our attractive developments tend to be on the edge of towns with attractive developments, with a lot of green space and desirable locations. So our selling points are still positive. Affordable housing, this has been strong cash flow for many years. We've done probably 5,000 affordable houses over 15-20 years. This is a long-term revenue stream for us, and, you know, we understand the importance of building good houses for society as a whole. You know, it's better healthcare, better education.
It's a positive for everyone, and we make decent margins from it. It is a strong cash flow for the business. The model for this is basically that we sell the land when we get planning to the council, and then we get paid monthly payments as we construct. So as opposed to private housing, where you fund the whole of the build, and you get the money at the end, with this, you get the constant cash flow on a monthly basis. Bottom left, you can see me telling John Swinney how Scotland should be run, and I'm not sure he's really listening to me, but you never know. The good news on Scottish Government, though, is that they have committed some GBP 5 billion to affordable housing over the next 5 years. That's an increase of around about 25%.
The reason that's so positive, at the moment, SNP, I think they're 20-to-1 odds on of winning the parliament in May, so there's some certainty over those figures going forward. So that's a good thing, a bigger commitment on affordable housing, and we're well placed with our land bank to take advantage of that. Strong fundamentals in the Scottish housing market. The important figures here are that if you look at the bottom right, there's a chart there, and it shows that Scotland 4 times price to earnings, so that's house price against earnings at 4 times is one of the lowest in the UK. So you can see up, you know, in England, it gets up to 7 and 8, so there is space for that to go somewhere. The...
I guess the important thing about the changes to the, if you like, the demographics of the area and the new jobs that are coming in, are that these will be higher-paid jobs. So that means not only is there scope for the 4 to increase to 5 or 6, but also, if average wages are going up, that also means that there is a good chance for house price inflation. Obviously, demand looks like it's going to be stronger than supply, so that is a good position to be in. We've had a housing emergency in Scotland for 2 years now. There's a shortage of housing. We now have the Scottish Government taking action. There's a Cabinet Secretary who's been appointed for housing, so it's got a prominent position, Mairi McAllan. We've met her a couple of times. She's very strong.
She's very proactive. There is an agency being set up similar to Homes England, which has been quite positive for England, so hopefully, we can see the same positive impacts in Scotland. Positive indicators for Scotland. I don't think I've mentioned the house price growth, but I think a Zoopla report or Rightmove report was showing 4%. Yes, over to the right there, you can see 4% growth in house prices. You can see our average price at GBP 344,000. We're building higher spec, larger homes than the standard or average house that you will see there. Mortgages are getting very competitive, I'm sure today with the announcement that inflation's now at the 3%, below the 3%, that will be more competitive.
So that is a good thing, and hopefully that starts to come through with consumer confidence growing as things move on. Next slide. This is really a storybook of what we're about. You can see, it's important for us. We've got 77 apprentices. We're going to have to train our workforce, and that's going to be a big challenge. We have 77 apprentices just now. We build the houses off-site using our own timber kit factory, using modern methods of construction. We support the local communities. We recognize that the local communities are the people that buy our houses, the people that work for us, the people that spend the money, so we do what we can to support events and sponsor local activities.
Our houses are energy efficient, using air source heat pumps and timber kits, so very well-insulated and very efficient. Something like four or five times more efficient than a house from 20, 30 years ago. That really tells the story of what we're about. In conclusion, delighted to be here today saying that we're achieving our strategy, that we've, we are meeting our expectations and doing what we've said we would do. We are exploring and focusing on the substantial opportunities in the north of Scotland and making development and progress with that. Our balance sheet is significantly stronger and in a good place now, regarding the reduction of net debt. We are continuing to grow the business, in private and affordable this year.
We are underpinned by a very strong land bank that we've been developing over many, many years and through many, many relationships, and we want to continue to deliver shareholder value. We're well positioned to do this, with debt reduction, solid results, and it puts us in a position to continue and distribute our final year dividends. So thank you. I'll now pass over to Rach, who will handle the questions or coordinate the questions. Thank you.
Many thanks for that, Innes and Iain. We have quite a few questions, so we'll endeavor to get through all of those. Let's try and put the ones about the north of Scotland up at the start. So, SSEN mentioned an expected peak of around 5,000 workers, and your current plan is to build 300 homes. Where will the other workers be housed?
Yeah. There's a number of other options. In the center of Inverness, the old college grounds are going to be used for a temporary workers camp. They will put infrastructure there. You know, there's already power on the site because it was a college before. That will house a number of temporary workers. It's very expensive, the temporary worker route, though. I think it works out, you know, a couple of hundred GBP a night per person, because you still need security, you still need, you know, canteen facilities, gym facilities, healthcare. That's one of the options. I think University of the Highlands and Islands campus has a number of spare beds that can be used.
There are another 700 houses, so councils themselves are using land that they have, where houses will be built and workers will be housed. So if there's 1,000 houses built and it's two to three people per house, that's 3,000 people, and then the remaining 2,000. Some people will also stay in caravans and, you know, there will be that kind of thing as well. But they are very keen to avoid people... It's not so much in winter months, for the hotels it will be a good thing, but in summer months, then if prices jack up, that could really hurt tourism. So yeah. So I have no doubt when it really kicks off and when it really starts, there will be a bit of a, not...
It will be difficult to manage. I mean, there are a number of challenges with this, and they're all positive challenges that where you've got economic growth, then you've got to encourage, you know, the money will encourage people to come. It's a bit of the field of dreams, that if you build it, they will come. And once jobs are, you know, good paying, well-paid jobs are available, then people will travel, the housing will follow. There will need to be improvements in infrastructure in the area. The healthcare will need to be improved. The roads will need to be improved. The education will need to be improved. So with economic growth comes economic development, so the local community will benefit from this. But will it be smooth, and will it be easy?
No, it won't. It'll be challenging. It will be difficult to, for us to keep onto our workforce, to train our workforce. That's why we're putting so much investment into apprentices. But it will be challenging. But it's a positive challenge, and that challenge should lead to higher wages, and it should lead to higher house price inflation. And because we've got such a good land supply, and we've got all of the infrastructure, we've got the supply chain, we've got the logistics in place, then we're very well placed to take advantage of this unique opportunity.
Thank you. And are there any other major nationals or volume builders, house builders operating in that area?
The only other PLC that the guys would recognize is Barratt, who operate in the area. We've obviously sold them one of our sites, a 100-house site in Inverness. We have a very good relationship with Barratt, and, you know, they tend not to have, you know, the 40-year relationships that we've got with landowners. They will absolutely be competition to us, but we tend to, because we've got the land sort of secured, then we're in a very strong place. Now, will others come? If they do come, then we've got a land bank. Will we look at monetizing that? We may, if a very good offer comes in, we may not, but it's great to be in the position to have those choices.
... Great. And, and while we're talking about SSEN, is there an opportunity for you to provide more than the 300 homes for SSEN, given how many contractors are gonna be working on their project?
Yes. I think what we have is 293 signed up, and those are the, that's what we're talking about just now, because that is certain, that is identified houses. Now, there will be, I've no doubt, once, you know, SSEN are a big organization, they have procedures, policies that are difficult for contractors to get on. Once you're on, you're on, and we want to be the best supplier that we can be to them so that we're easy to come to the next time. We want to make our counterpart, SSEN's job as easy as possible to come to us for housing. What that question opens up is there are also other projects going on in the area.
For example, there's a hydro scheme at Dores, a GBP 1 billion dam, that's got permission and is going to be built. I think it's Statkraft, the name of the organization, and they're gonna need housing for their workers. They need something like 600 workers in order to build the dam. There are also talks of hydrogen schemes. There's also, you know, if Mingyang, the... You know, we know Keir Starmer went to China two, three weeks ago, and we in the Highlands were kind of hoping that that would get the go-ahead. I know it's sitting on somebody's table somewhere for approval, but whoever goes into RBCR is gonna need housing for their workers, and there's gonna be more opportunities.
Not only with SSEN, and as I say, once we've got the framework, and once we've got everything agreed and the contracts agreed, it will just be a case of duplicating that. There are gonna be other opportunities, and there's gonna be competition for houses amongst the, all of the renewable and, infrastructure, providers that are coming up there. Not forgetting, we've got the A9 dualling that's going on as well. There's a lot of activity in the north. I think the HIE report, which anyone can, can access, there's an HIE report, and it estimates over the next 25 years, potential for up to GBP 100 billion of investment. Now, clearly, that's if everything happens, and I doubt everything will happen, but it's gonna be a significant number anyway.
Just following on from that, are you building any houses in that area in anticipation of contracts being signed, or do you wait for the contract to be signed before you start developing a new site?
So the one site that's the first one we expect to get signed up is at Drumnadrochit, and we were partly through that site. That's a private and affordable site, and we were a large way through that site, so we've continued building on that site. And those 38-39 houses will be ready to hand over in May. We know that the contractors are looking for them on that date, and we would expect to announce that one over the next 8-10 weeks. With the other ones, we've got the enabling works, which the initial agreement covered the. The initial agreement covered a payment for a, you know, doing all the site investigations, getting the planning, getting the work going.
So yes, we are getting prepared, and we've been given money by SSE to go and do that work, so yes, we are.
You touched on the thorny issue of planning then. Is the Highland Council fast-tracking planning or?
No, this is, if you want my honest opinion, this is much, you know, similar to HS2. This is a national project, that the electricity will benefit 60 million people, but the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many, and that means that it's a local planning system that is approving or not approving these things, and then it needs to go to the next level, to national approval. And what it does from a negative thing is it kind of slows down, and it delays the project. And, you know, UK looks at, you know, it wants to export more. If it wants to export more, then it needs to build things cheaply, and if it wants to build things cheaply, it needs cheap energy.
So the rationale for why this is needed is very clear, the increase in electricity. However, local people slow it down. But from a Springfield point of view, patience, I think, is gonna be a virtue because the more delays we see in this, the longer houses will need to be rented, and the longer the project will go on. So there's part of me, part of me is, you know, the delay means, okay, instead of 2031 being achieved, maybe it carries on to 2035. Planning is just the same everywhere. We live in a nation of bureaucrats, I'm afraid. That's what it is, and I'm not gonna say it any different.
Thank you. And you talked about potential labor shortages, obviously. Is that something you're concerned about? And, what are you doing to mitigate that?
Like I say, it's like Aberdeen in the seventies and eighties, when, when the money comes and the wealth comes, people will come. We can do what we can through training apprentices and encouraging people. Just this week, from the Press and Journal ran a, ran a story, it's National Apprenticeship Week. We've got 77 apprentices. We will be looking at taking on more. Like I say, the, the demand for labor means higher wages, means higher house price inflation. So, so yes, it's, it's a challenge, but it's a, it's a positive challenge, and it's a healthy challenge, as opposed to one going the other way.
You know, to be in a position that our concern is there's gonna be too much demand. I'm quite happy to be in a position that we've got that, but it won't be easy, and it will be challenging.
Okay, thank you. And are the new houses for rent being built to a similar spec to a typical Springfield home?
Yes. It's standard houses. It's, they are being built exactly with the planning that we've got. One of the key issues for SSE is that we can build these houses as quickly as possible. So because we had planning on these sites, then we are building what's there and not changing it to try and build only two-bedroom houses. So they will be renting a four-bed house and only using two of the bedrooms, for example. So we will build them with exactly the same, the same standard and the same quality. We do have a refurb allowance in our rental figures that, you know, at the end of it, we'll probably fit a new kitchen and put everything.
Exactly how we deal with it in four years, it'll kind of go alongside our mainstream housing. We do see, and we don't really mention this, but our, you know, we do build—we kind of forget this in the presentation, but we do see an increase to the private housing in the area as well as people move up there and start to settle, and we do see potential for increase in private sales as well as people relocate to the area and the 10,000 extra jobs are created. Yes, we will continue building quality houses, with a good spec, and, you know, that's what the market will demand when it comes to selling the houses.
Thank you. Have the 300 SSEN homes, have the prices been set? Are they underwritten by SSEN or cost plus?
Okay, so they are funding the work in progress on those sites, and then they are paying a rent for four years, and then we will be setting the price to the market for the ones that we're selling at what the market price is at that time. So hopefully we see some house price inflation between now and the, you know, the four years or the six years when this finishes. With regards to the Highland Council houses, then, for example, the Highland Council houses, that price will be set and will be agreed in advance, and that will be baked into the rental that we charge. So if we're given a discount of GBP 100,000 on a house, then that GBP 100,000 will have to be recovered through rent.
So SSEN are effectively contributing to the discount we're giving to the Highland Council.
Okay, thank you. I think that's most of the north of Scotland questions, so I will just move on to some more general questions. Given what other house builders have been reporting recently, what are you seeing with regard to cost inflation?
We've seen 2%-4%, different on different products, and, nothing, nothing alarming to us, and certainly reading from other house builders, that we seem to be in line with, those figures. Ian?
Yeah, I would agree with that, Innes. Yeah, I think it's something that we're fairly comfortable with at the moment, and yeah, just in line with everyone else. It's something we keep a close watch on, but nothing untoward.
The figures today as well.
Will help, yeah. The fact inflation's down helps.
Great, thank you. There's been a bit of talk about the Help to Buy scheme and whether that will be reintroduced. Do you have any thoughts on that, and how might it impact you?
So I think we need to remember that Scotland's devolved, and if Help to Buy comes into England, it's not necessarily the fact that it will come to Scotland. There will be consequentials, and how Scottish Government decides to implement that will be interesting. Our first-time buyers are about 16%, so we're not hugely. And you can see from the average price of our houses, we're not really; Help to Buy wasn't a massive boost to us in the way it may have been for the volume house builders in the past in England. And yeah, I think we just wait and see. Second guessing what this government's gonna do is a foolhardy occupation, I would say.
Great, thank you. Ian, maybe some questions for you. Please, can you remind us of your dividend policy?
Yeah, so I think, we've obviously introduced the dividend again, Rach. So it was GBP 0.02 in May 2025, and if you look at the, the research notes that, that you published, which are on our website, you can see that we've got a progressive dividend policy over the next few years with an increase in dividend. It's something we see as hugely important to give a good return to shareholders, and it, it's always a focus for us. So again, if you, if you look at the notes that are on the website, you'll see the dividend increasing over the coming years.
Thank you. Do you expect the recent growth in affordable housing revenue to be sustained?
Yeah, I think I said on the slide, we've had particular success in the north of Scotland. Really strong relationships up there with Highland Council and Highland Housing Alliance, and I think this alluded to the fact that the Scottish government budget is allocating more funds for affordable. We see it as a really good area for us. We make good margins. We talked about the cash flow benefits. So yeah, I think it's an area that we'll continue to be strong on, and we think it's a good thing to do in terms of supporting communities. So it's always been a good focus for us. And yeah, I think there'll be opportunities for us going forward, given the additional funding.
Thank you. And, do you expect margins in private houses to improve in the second half?
Yeah, we do. We do, and there's a number of factors at play in terms of private housing. It can be a bit of a mix, like, in terms of the product we're selling. But yeah, the margin we've got in the first half, our projection for the second half, we would see a slight improvement. And as I say, again, if you look at the kind of wider market at the moment, I think we measure up fairly well against others. So yeah, I think we're comfortable that we'll see an improvement in the second half.
Thank you. Given Springfield's history, what is the board's appetite for acquisitions? I mean, obviously there are lots of opportunities in the north of Scotland, but anything that you would consider or interested in?
I think the acquisitions in the past have been done because of the landholding that was within those companies. And we have a—I mean, if you call acquisitions, we've secured a number of options and long-term positions on land in the north, that there is no, you know, there is no company with the, the land holdings that we would look to, look to buy. So I don't see that as a, I see acquiring land, an investment, heavy investment in land as being important over the next four or five years, as opposed to acquiring companies as such.
Great. Thank you. And just to round off, what kind of news flow should investors be looking out for, for the next 6-12 months? Then, I mean, there's a lot going on, so what will be the key announcements? Obviously, you can't kind of tell us too much, but.
No, I would expect to be signing the main works agreement and leases over the next 6 to 12 months, or in fact, before the end of May, we would expect the first one. We know the houses are needed first of May, whether all the documents get signed by that time, we have to be patient. We do move at SSEN's pace, and SSEN do have regulators and, you know, Ofgem, that they have to make sure that they are getting value for money. There is a process we need to go through, but we're extremely hopeful. We've got a meeting with them in the next 2 weeks to try and try and push things on.
So we'd certainly would hope to announce it to the market that we've got the first deal signed at Drumnadrochit, and that will get significant amount of cash in as we get the work in progress funded. And then it will just be another 5 sites after that between, you know, by the end of the 12 months, we would expect everything to be signed up. Those are the major announcements. I mean, we expect SNP to get in in May, and then the funding has some certainty and affordable, so we would expect to, you know, have some affordable contracts or money allocated, you know, out for 3-5 years, on that side of things.
The rest of the stuff is, you know, as you know, as inflation comes down, hopefully there's more interest rates reductions, hopefully mortgages come down and, you know, hopefully we get a positive announcement from this Labour government that helps housing at some point, but, you know, we can but hope.
Great. Well, thank you very much. That ends the presentation, and thank you again for your time and your honesty in response to those questions. Obviously, going to be quite a busy period for you, and we look forward to catching up with you in six months' time, in September, for your full year results. Just to our viewers, a quick reminder that there will be a survey coming out to you in short order, if you wouldn't mind responding to that and just answering some questions. I know that management would appreciate it. Thank you to everyone who's joined, and thank you to Iain and Innes for your time this morning.
Yes, and thank you to everyone that continues to invest in us. We, you know, we greatly appreciate it, so thank you.
Thank you.