Hello, everybody, and welcome to MJ Gleeson's half-year results presentation for the six months to December 2025. I'm delighted to be joined by colleagues this morning, of course, by Stefan, but also, with us are Guy Gusterson, the MD of Gleeson Land, Scott Stothard, Divisional Chair for Gleeson Homes, and also Simon Topliss, Gleeson Homes' Chief Operating Officer. We'll follow the normal format. I'll give you a quick overview, Stefan will talk you through the numbers, and then I'll come back and talk a little bit more about strategy, and outlook, and then we'll be happy to take your questions. So, autumn really was, as everybody knows, the autumn selling season turned into a bit of a damp bonfire night.
And against that backdrop of dire budget headlines, we were quite pleased with what I'd characterize as a robust performance in a subdued market. 848 homes was up about 6% on the prior year, and our net res rate was actually up 9%. Still sub 0.5, which is very frustrating to me, as you might imagine. But against that backdrop, I guess we would take 0.48. Really pleased to see our partnerships, fledgling partnerships business starting to generate its first revenue and profits. And we are making progress on site openings, although, as ever, constrained by a difficult planning environment. A big stride forward on Project Transform.
I'll talk about that this morning, but we have moved to the second phase of that restructure to complete the fundamental operating restructure. And as I say, I'll talk about that in a moment. And of course, it's all about, and Transform is all about, rebuilding margin, and I'll talk about some of the risks and opportunities in that regard. Turning to Gleeson Land, and we really are seeing increased momentum in that business, and it's great to see that that's as a direct consequence of the strategy that Guy's put in place.
We're pleased with three, I suppose, fairly modest transactions, but three transactions in the first half, and I will just call out one landmark transaction in Gleeson Land, which is the sale of the first site that has been acquired since Guy joined the business, a lovely site in Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire. That is frankly remarkable, in a strat land business, to have a turnaround of less than three years, I think, Guy, from promo to sale. I'm not saying that, we're gonna hold them to that for every other site that they've acquired, but it is really a hell of an achievement. We signed four new promotion agreements in the period.
We have a number more in the pipeline, and then a quite astonishing 15 planning applications submitted by Gleeson Land in the six months. Really pleasing, then, to see the portfolio growing, both in quantity, but also in quality. So then turning to the big question of the moment, so how, how's, how's the second half started? Well, I think the phrase is cautiously encouraged. We're seeing an open market sales rate at 0.55. I'd like it to be more, if I'm honest. This time last year, we were seeing 0.79.
As you're aware, as we all found out, we suspected, in fact, I remember saying it, we suspected that that had something to do with the stamp duty changes, and indeed, that proved to be the case. But nonetheless, we're not seeing the same strength of uptick that we were this time last year. However, it is an improvement. We need that to continue to strengthen and to be sustained. Heaven forbid that it falls off just like it did last year. Price increases, well, holding tentatively. We put through an increase of 2.5% on the 1st of January. That's held to an average of about 1.7%, which is modestly encouraging.
Nonetheless, we are still giving away 4.5% on incentives. I think there's a little bit of an opportunity there, and I'll talk about that. The backdrop is good. Mortgage availability is strong, and interest rates coming down, as we know. Importantly, we are continuing to forecast further multi-unit sales, and that market as well, slightly tentative, and I'll talk about that. We are still seeing good interest in future partnerships transactions, and again, I think every reason to be pleased that we took Gleeson into that part of the market a couple of years ago, and we're starting to see the benefits of that. So to outlook, and that's, I guess, what the market is focused on this morning.
So our open market sales rate, as I said, has improved. It's 0.55. We'd like it to be stronger than that. So we need it to continue improving, and we need it to be sustained. Clearly, if the open market rate is weak, then we all run to the, you know, if you like, the safety valve of the bulk market, and we have done quite well in that market. I think it's fair to say that that market is feeling a little softer than it was.
And so, you've got the double whammy there of, if the open market sales rate proves to be weaker, then you're gonna, you're looking to more bulk, and if that market is weaker, then you've got an exponential hit to margin there. And the RPs are not yet back in that market in any numbers. We are talking to those guys, but then not expecting funding under the Continuous Market Engagement program until April, and the strategic funding is even later in the year. And those margin risks clearly persist. As I said, buyers continue to need incentives.
Selling price increases still not quite keeping pace with residual build cost inflation, and the regulatory headwinds continue to persist. There is still that presumption at government that whatever they throw at us, don't worry, guys, the land will absorb it, and viability, an increasing issue across the country.
So it's for those reasons, frankly, I consider it would be rash for me to stand here and say, "Don't worry, guys, we are going to stand by, and we're going to deliver the guidance that we have." And for that reason, we're saying, "Well, we can deliver the guidance that we have, but an awful lot depends on what happens over the next few weeks." And we will undertake to come back and tell you about the next few weeks in April. At that point, I will pause, and I'll let Stefan tell you about the last six months.
Thank you, Graham. So, the first half really was a tough market, and our performance I would characterize as really robust. We grew revenue in both divisions and at a group level, delivered 9.6% higher revenue. Group operating profit was 17.6% lower, and I will take you through the divisional results on the following slides. Interest costs were seven hundred thousand pounds higher at GBP 2.2 million , and that reflects higher borrowings during the first half compared to the first half last year. And excluding the additional GBP 300,000 of exceptional costs, the group therefore delivered GBP 2 million of profit before tax. Now, to Gleeson Homes, they grew their revenue 5.9%, and that was through a combination of higher selling prices and higher volumes.
The division delivered its first completions to its partners, 37 plots completed. It also delivered significantly higher bulk than last year. So the first half of last year, we delivered 95 private bulk. This year, it was 190. So those average selling prices, they were, on a reported basis, up 2.5%. Underlying selling prices, that's on a like-for-like basis, were up 1.7%, and a richer bed and site mix contributed to the other increase in reported selling prices. Now, gross profit was higher, driven by that higher volume. Gross profit was 4% higher at GBP 33.4 million. You'll notice that gross margin as a percentage of turnover, was lower, 19.8%.
That reflects the additional bulk sales that we completed during the first half, extended prelims as sites, slower selling sites continued to extend, so the fixed costs on those increased. Continued use of incentives. While we did grow gross, gross selling prices, we continued to need to offer incentives, which averaged about 4.5%, and the build cost inflation marginally exceeded that underlying selling price increase. Now, on overheads, overhead costs were GBP 3.4 million higher compared to the prior half year. And let me break that down. Pay inflation averaged about 3.2%. We had the impact of National Insurance, of course, which went up in April 2025. We invested more in IT systems, and in particular in cybersecurity.
Compared to the prior half year, there was a different level of accruals for bonuses and share-based payments. So the higher volume drove higher gross profit, GBP 1.3 million higher, but that was more than offset by the relatively higher overhead costs. So, Gleeson Homes, forgive me, reported a lower operating profit of GBP 7 million. Now, the forward order book actually grew quite strongly. It was from quite a low base, but we grew the forward order book by 64% and to 978 plots. So the biggest growth in partnerships. So we had a very successful 12 months, particularly the last six months, at growing our partnership forward orders, from 105 to 382 forward orders.
Bulk, which is mostly private bulk, those went up by 36, and very, very pleasingly, we saw our open market forward orders increase compared to December last year by 20% to 416. Now, Gleeson Land. So Gleeson Land had a really busy first half on site completions. They completed three site sales. There were no sales in the first half last year. That generated GBP 2 million of gross profit. We increased provisions on WIP by GBP 700,000, which meant we actually reported a gross profit of GBP 1.3 million. Overheads were a little bit higher, but with that higher gross profit, it means the loss that we book in the first half reduced to GBP 600,000.
And remember, Gleeson Land is, within the year, quite a lumpy business, and we typically see a very low performance in the first half and a very strong second half. Now, turning to the balance sheet. Inventories increased by GBP 46 million to GBP 416.7 million. Gleeson Homes grew its inventory by GBP 31 million, and if I point to the land WIP, that increased, through the purchase of over 2,300 plots on 17 sites during the last 12 months, at an average cost for those purchases of GBP 17,800. And in Gleeson Land, whose inventory increased by GBP 15 million over the last 12 months, as Graham said, they had a really busy period.
They submitted 15 planning applications, and we had all of the associated costs with the quite busy activity ahead of, and at the point of submitting a planning application. I would highlight and remind you that, the Gleeson Land WIP includes a significant amount of, WIP on an owned site that we've conditionally sold, that we expect to complete the sale of by the end of the financial year, and that would correspondingly reduce the WIP, quite significantly by the end of this year. Other liabilities, includes much higher trade creditors, but that's compared to what was quite a low level of trade creditors 12 months ago, and is broadly in line with where we were at the start of the year, at June 2025.
Land creditors were higher, and they were over 10% of land asset value, and that reflects a few larger sites that we've bought over the last 12 months, particularly in the last six months, and on deferred terms, so we had higher land creditors. Turning to cash flow. Operating cash outflow, typical in the first half, is an outflow. That was GBP 11.7 million, lower than the first half of last year. And that was due to Gleeson Land swinging from a net cash outflow, which it was in the first half of last year, to quite a strong operating cash inflow this year.
Higher average borrowings, as I mentioned earlier, increased our interest cost, and therefore, our cash interest payments were GBP 500,000 higher at GBP 1.6 million, and our CapEx was higher, again, against a relatively low first half. We opened more show homes and sales arenas in this first half than last year. As a result, in the six months, we had a cash outflow of GBP 6.6 million, and that resulted in slightly higher opening net debt of GBP 22.5 million. So on dividends, the board is declaring an interim dividend of 4p. That's unchanged from the interim dividend last half year. That dividend will be paid on the seventh of April to shareholders on the register at the close of business on the sixth of March. Thank you, and I'll hand you back to Graham.
Thanks, Stefan. So turning to first to Gleeson Homes. I don't know how many times I've stood here and talked to you about a cautious market environment. We have a cautious market environment. The buyers are clearly there. We know that, so this isn't post GFC. If you look... In fact, if you look at the ONS residential transactions for last year, they're at a normal level. There is not, you know, we're not at a sort of diabolical subdued level in the wider market. Now, there are all sorts of other dynamics in there.
We know there's an overhang in the secondhand market, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and if you're looking at a transaction to sell a home, it's quite difficult. But the buyers, therefore, are there. And we have a more benign or an increasingly benign backdrop, in my view. So you have the affordability graphs are improving. We've had several years of wage growth outpacing house price inflation. We've got the base rate gradually trending down, and we've got a very strong mortgage market environment. As you can see, more well-priced, high LTV products available than you can shake a stick at.
But what we're lacking is confidence, and it's really, that means it's really, it does make each sale hard work. It means that our pricing, our incentives, our site's appearance of our stock, et cetera, has to be absolutely spot on. We basically have to do the hard work and convince our customers of the benefits of buying a beautiful Gleeson home. Project Transform then. Impossible to overstate the importance of this to Gleeson Homes for the future. I'm really pleased with the way that the changes that we announced in July have settled down. Scott, sparing his blushes, has made a great start, and equally, Simon doing really well in his role.
So I'm much more confident in the leadership of the homes business and the relish, if you like, with which the leadership has set about those changes and the way the organization has received those changes, has given us, has emboldened us to move perhaps more quickly than we were going to, to the second phase of that restructure, which we announced in January, and that completes the operating restructure for Gleeson Homes. And just briefly, what have we done? So we've moved to a single division, as you're aware, with six regions. You know that we combined two of those regions, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and Cumbria, into a single leadership team back in the summer.
We've taken the decision to actually push that a bit further. We're not closing either region, but we are taking Greater Manchester, Merseyside, down to effectively a skeleton team, comprising customer care to look after the homes, but also importantly, land, while we rebuild the pipeline in that region and get to a kind of critical mass, which will then justify a full development team and a full region in that important, important area, for us. Structure-wise, what have we done? The changes we've made affect land, customer care, marketing, and finance. That land change, really very important, and it's a move away from the old Gleeson model. And it's a big move for the organization because land was bought centrally, reported centrally, and then handed over to the regions.
It was a big change we knew we needed to make. We've now made that change. It's settling well. So our land directors report to their regional managing directors and work with their regional teams, and that's a critical step. If you think about that moment of when the... If you have a central land team and they hand over the site to the regional team, then magically, you lose 2% or 3% of margin, and in a growing, strong market, that may get washed under the carpet and lost here and there. But in reality, what you need is one team owning that site from selection to bid right through to delivery, and that will just work better for us, so a really important move.
Customer care, moving to a much more recognized model whereby the site team will hand over the unit defect-free after eight weeks. It benefits our customers. It's a much cleaner, clearer system for them, but more importantly, it actually benefits our site teams because they can concentrate on building quality homes, which is what they need to do, and that will help with pace of build, which has been an issue for Gleeson. We're routing our marketing business partners to report into their region, not into center. We've still got a great team at center.
We're not changing what they do, but we're just taking out some of the friction so that the regions can be precise and agile in what they need from marketing, and we'll get that response much more effectively. And we're also taking the step of bringing our finance business partners into region to report to their regional managing director. So you now have a complete regional team, which is led by a strong regional managing director, and it's reasonable now to say to those guys, "Okay, I need you to take the ownership, responsibility, and accountability for your business." It really does feel like a better controlled, more grown-up business.
Turning to those regional teams, we have made a number of changes at regional managing director level and indeed in the functional directors. We do have, it is simple, straightforward to say that we have much stronger regional leadership in the business now. We have taken the opportunity to tighten the belt on overheads a little further in as part of that process, and that will run to about, no more than about 25 heads, but important that we keep that as lean as we can. We know that our overhead larger than it should be for the number of units that we produce, and we have to leverage that and grow into that overhead.
That's actually an opportunity for us going forward. That will generate exceptional costs in this second half. The cash cost, the people costs, are not exceeding GBP 1.5 million, and there will be some costs in writing off some old land assets, mostly pre-development costs of up to GBP 3 million in Greater Manchester, of course. The cost savings we expect to be about GBP 1 million on an annualized basis. But stepping back, as I say, really importantly for me, the organization is completely transformed, is pretty much unrecognizable from the Gleeson Homes that we would have had even this time last year.
I think we've got the right structure and process in place, and I'm sure we've got the right people in place, and I'm excited for what that can deliver going forward. Important then, when I talk about the challenges in margin, my biggest confidence around restoring our margin is Project Transform. I need those regional teams to be able to take ownership and perform both in terms of the appraisal when, right from bid appraisal through to build and commercial, commercial control, and that's what we, that's what we need to see. That's what I'm confident we will see. But just breaking down those margin challenges, they'll be familiar to you, but I've already touched on build cost inflation continues.
Even though it's low single digits, I think we're about 2.7% in that first half. But, you know, labor costs really do increase. And so although it's not at a ridiculous level, it's very difficult when house price inflation is so constrained. Also, the curse of extended prelims when you're selling slower than you planned, and those regulatory headwinds, and additional tax costs, add - continue to add to the burden. There's an item there, improving subcontractor base. I won't take too long on that this morning, but that's an elective cost, if you like. Why are we doing that? Why are you doing that, Graham?
We need in order to be able to build at the pace that we require, we need to improve our subcontractor base. The key one is our groundworkers. It was the old Gleeson badge of honor that we only use labor-only groundworkers. That can probably work for you at building a few hundred units, but actually, it rapidly becomes a false economy when you're trying to build at volume. What you get with supply and fix groundworkers is a greater pace, a better quality, and greater reliability. That's not a comment on all labor-only groundworkers everywhere. It's as you try to use more and more to grow at pace, you're going... You're not going to get the quality and pace that you need.
Now, that switch will add on roughly 2.5% to the cost of those groundworks on your appraisal, and that hits our margin. "So why are you doing it, Graham?" Well, I'm doing it because it's the right thing for the business, for me, for today, also for the medium and the longer term, and I firmly believe it will actually save us money, as we grow and as we get the reliability and quality in the delivery. Bulk sales continue. Stefan's touched on it. They will always, of course, continue to put downward pressure on your margin. But there are mitigations, and we're not just lying there and taking it.
And that's all about, and I've talked to you about this before, the potential in sales. So I mentioned the January price increases. That's encouraging. Really important that we're right on that, and as we, particularly as we bring these newer sites on, we make sure we're not underpricing them in the market. And there is, as we start to get any sort of recovery, huge potential in incentives and extras. And as you can see, incentives currently running at 4.5%. Back in 2022, they were less than 1%. And of course, incentives steal from extras 'cause you're giving it away instead of selling it.
In 2022, we were doing nearly 2% of extras, which is quite strong on a, on a, you know, on Gleeson Homes, given that we sell, we sell at the affordable end. We're currently doing 1%, if we're lucky. The improving sales rate is absolutely key. It's key to both of those, and it also is key to that, constraining those extended prelims. I can't underestimate the small, sustained improvements in effective demand can have an exponential effect on margin. So of course, sales and marketing, therefore, you won't be surprised, is a huge focus for us, and we're not sitting around waiting for the market to come to us.
You're aware, I think I've talked about this every time I've stood in front of you. It was clear to me that Gleeson needed to improve, to up its game on sales. I'm pleased that we now generally sell at or around the same rate as the HBF. We were, we used to be materially below the HBF rate. I still believe we can do better, but I don't want to, I believe that our product and our where we are in the country, we should actually be above, above, above that average, and we're really trying to get after that. But I'll just draw out three quick points on here that we're specifically focusing on at the moment.
So that point around bringing marketing into the regions, I think that will improve our edge. Incentives is an interesting one. I think we've got lazy. Scott and I have discussed this. As what happens with PPI, with carpets and curtains, as units come up to be complete and they're going into stock, people say, "Well, actually, to sell that, I'm gonna put some PPI in there." Now, what they should then do is remember they've got that PPI, and that should reduce what we call the dealer margin, the 5% that they're able to give away. I think we've got lazy about that recovery. Scott's done some quite granular work on that. So there's an...
I think there's an opportunity there for us to tighten up today, and we're right on that. And the third area where I'm very excited about, actually, is part exchange. I will credit Scott with pushing for this and Simon for delivering this in a record three weeks in the run-up to Christmas to have it ready for the first of January. We've always had part ex. We had an outsourced product, so the offers were derisory, and nobody used it. We brought it in-house, taken out the middleman, so we can make much more realistic offers to our customers. It's working really well already. And fear not, we've all seen how that can go wrong.
So for sure, Scott and I have known exactly how this needs to work. We're being very disciplined around the type of units we can take on, the proportion it can represent of the selling price, and the prices we will offer. We're also restricting the balance sheet commitment any one region can have at any one time. So we're under control, but it's working well for us. Turning to site openings and getting hold of sites. Planning, in a short sentence, remains the biggest single impediment to Gleeson’s ability to grow our business into the opportunity that we know we have. We did purchase 9 sites in the first half.
I'm reasonably happy with that, but the opportunity is larger. The planning environment remains tough. You can see from the chart. I don't need to give you the detail on that, but as you know, just look at that stat in the last bullet, some 43 sites awaiting planning. I do think that Transform will help us here. When your land is being promoted by the regional team, I think that gives you an edge in terms of your timetable and your focus. So it will be better, but that might buy us a month in 2024, 2025, 2026 months. We are not gonna solve the planning. However good we are, we're not gonna solve planning on our own.
We've had a good start to the year. We've had five consents since the beginning of January, and one of those, the largest ever for Gleeson Homes, which was 600 units in Spilsby, in Lincolnshire. So pace of site openings obviously very closely related. Reasonably happy with nine sites opened in the first half, one more than last year. We're aiming to open a second eight sites in the second half. But the key is that we get to that steady rhythm of an average 10 net new sites annually, and that's what we're targeting for FY 2027. Importantly, on sales, we opened seven outlets in the first half, but absolutely critical that we hit that 12 new outlets in the second half. That's really key to getting our sales...
to getting the sales that we need in H2. Gleeson Partnerships, as I say, I'm upbeat, and really pleased with the progress that they're making in what's been a difficult market, really, since we set up that partnerships team. So well done to them. The housing associations, definitely back in negotiation. We're seeing really, really good interest. They need their-- They actually need their pocket money to be delivered. PRS investors are still definitely remaining active. We signed three new agreements in the first half, and we're discussing. So we currently now have eight sites under development, and we have discussions progressing on a further 11. So we continue to target that 20% of our business in partnerships.
Turning to Gleeson Land, as I said, really pleasing that the momentum is building, and it's a clear and direct result of the strategy that Guy set around that presence on the ground in three regions: the southern region, the western region, and Northern Home Counties. And that helps with, it really does help us with building our relationships, our networks in those regions, and convincing vendors that we understand their market. Market remains, I would say, strong for our prime sites, which we're getting, we get a good list of bids and bidders, but I wouldn't say it's an ebullient market.
We won't have kind of four of the majors, wrestling with each other at the top of the list. It's a bit more gentlemanly than that at the moment, which means that transactions are undoubtedly taking longer to get over the line. It's a market when your buyer can afford to take that bit longer over his or her due diligence. And interestingly, we're seeing quite a few bids conditional on getting the RP deal sorted in the background, and that's a direct consequence of what I was just saying about the RP market. We're still investing in our market-leading research and data analytics capabilities.
Really impressive what those guys get up to, and that helps us both in site finding, in winning the bids, sitting in front of the vendors, and indeed, sitting in front of planners to get the consent over the line. Still very disciplined about our criteria and our hurdle rates. We're currently, I think, turning away about 95%, Guy, of the sites that we're offered. But pleased with a win rate when we actually commit to ... we decide to bid. We're winning about a third of the bids that we make, and that's that means that the portfolio is growing steadily and strongly, both in quantity and in quality, and importantly, continuing to maintain that 100% customer satisfaction score.
So a really busy period in Gleeson Land. As I said, we sold three sites. I would remind you, we continue to grind through with the technical approval on the large options site. I'm still hoping that we'll get that done by June, but the pace of negotiations would try the patience of a saint, I have to say. Nonetheless, we'll keep you updated on that progress. We signed four new promos in the first half. We're targeting a further 10 in the second half. That record 15 planning applications, that would be a record for Gleeson Land in any 12-month period, never mind a six-month period. And I can't let them yet go off for a lie down 'cause they're still working feverishly. So...
Yeah, as I say, good progress in Gleeson Land, and really feverish activity. So turning to the summary, as I said, a robust performance in a subdued market in Gleeson Homes. Cautiously encouraged by the signs of recovering demand, but importantly, it's just too early to tell if that will continue to improve and be sustained. And we do need to see that stronger market both to get the sales rate up and to support a margin recovery.
So our current ex-market expectations remain achievable, but the reality is that the market we're facing into, for the reasons I've described, risks a lower outturn, and it would be foolish of me to stand here and say, "Oh, I can absolutely stand by that. I know what's gonna happen over the next eight weeks, so stand on me, we'll deliver those deliver those results." So as one of your number elegantly put it this morning, we are keeping our powder dry. We will undertake to come back in April with a bit more knowledge and tell you and and give you better guidance.
But importantly, probably for me, much more importantly, we are well positioned now in both businesses for the future and to deliver our strategy. Project Transform is delivering a better Gleeson Homes business. We have the right structure, and we have the right people. And in Gleeson Land, as I've described, the right strategy and absolutely seeing the momentum and primed for growth and outperformance. So we are confident that the group's in a very strong position to deliver on our exciting objectives. At that point, that brings the presentation to a close.
Hello, and thank you. We have a number of questions pre-submitted and submitted live. First one: How should investors compare Gleeson to other listed house builders?
I think I would focus on three or four areas, really. I mean, so we are unique. Nobody else focuses on the private, affordable part of the market. You know that we on any site that we take on, we make it a point of principle that a couple earning the National Living Wage must be able to buy a material proportion of the homes on that site. That is exactly what Gleeson does. We're very proud that that's the case. Nobody else focuses on that section of the market. It works for us. Therefore, that's a great sustainable purpose. It's also a great commercial proposition because that's a very big market for us.
Also, because we pay less for the land than on a per plot basis than if you're buying for the more upmarket market sites, it means that we can work our capital harder, so we can actually grow faster. And I think the other area I would point to is the opportunity in this business. We have, as you have picked up from our presentation, probably the most important point in that presentation is the work that we've done under Project Transform. The organization is, as I said, unrecognizable from where we were 18 months ago. We have a better structure, better process. We look and feel like a small volume house builder, and we've got the people that we need.
We've greatly strengthened our leadership across the piece, and I'm really excited for where that can go.
Thank you. How are you preparing for future energy efficiency and environmental standards?
It's a very interesting question right now because we await, we continue to await the publication of the Future Homes Standard. We think we know what that will say, so that's the government's requirements for addressing energy efficiency. They should have been published, well, we were promised before Christmas. We're now promised before the end of this month, in fact, and there is detail in there that we need to see before we can finally firm up our plans, and that's the detail of what will be required, as well as the detail for transition and implementation. So we're well on with our planning. We are as prepared as we can be without actually seeing the detail. We're working that through.
We're well on with working it through the designs of our homes, but as to the precise preparation, well, we have to wait and see that detail.
Thank you. You highlight a 38% improvement in open market reservation rates in the first five weeks of early February. How much of that uplift is volume versus increased incentives?
So the res rate is all about customers putting reservations on our homes. Our incentives actually are steady. We're very cautious about the level of incentive we offer. We're at about 4.5%, and that's been consistent over a good number of months now. We also pushed our headline prices from the 1st of January. We put through about 2.5% increase. That stuck or landed at about 1.7% on average. We are bearing quite hard down on the incentives that we offer.
In the presentation, I referred to perhaps a bit of laziness around giving away both house improvements and still giving away 5%, and we're turning up on the teams on that, getting a bit of discipline back in, back into there. But we're absolutely not buying that sales rate. That's a market improvement. And we, you know, we work in other ways to try to encourage the sales rate, an improved sales rate, if that makes sense. We're absolutely not going to chase the market with excessive sales price reductions or incentives.
Thank you. Reservation rates are up, but sales sites open are down. Is planning or regulation holding you back?
Yeah, look, you, you will have heard in the, in the presentation, planning remains the biggest single, impediment to the growth opportunity in this business. So, I'm disappointed. We've, we've done well. I think we opened nine build sites in the first half. We got a further, I think, it's about eight in the second half. But we're looking to we're targeting to be opening a net 10 sites, so openings net of closures, annually. We hope to achieve that in, FY 2027 and beyond, but that's the sort of progress we need, to grow this business at the rate we know it's capable of growing. Planning has improved at the strategic level.
The government's done very, very good, sensible things at the strategic level, but it's very difficult for them and for anybody to address the resource constraint in local authorities, and the sheer weight of complexity and regulation that govern what a planning consent consists of. And that's a problem that will take more than one, probably more than one government duration to solve.
Thank you. Net debt increased slightly. Is that a worry if the housing market gets worse?
Do you want to take that, Stef?
Let me take that. So, no, we saw net debt at the end of December go up by about GBP 4.4 million- GBP 22.5 million. We would expect net debt to reduce by the end of the year, and we do carefully manage our capital structure, so we will manage it in a way that is consistent with the risks in the business. And the levers on cash in this business are really quite strong. If you want to generate cash, you can slow down your land purchasing, slow down your WIP investment on site. So we're quite comfortable as a house builder, that we have a very sensible capital structure. And I would remind you, there are three elements of leverage on a house builder's balance sheet.
There's typically the cash or the net debt. There are the land creditors, and for those house builders that have significant building safety liabilities, and ours are quite minor, there are the liabilities on the balance sheet. You look at those all together, I'm very comfortable with our leverage position.
Thank you. Would you rather sell fewer homes at better margins or push volumes and accept thinner profits?
Interesting. An interesting proposition. We are about volume, but we actually, but we're not going to, it touches on the point earlier. We're not going to chase that volume by slitting our throats on pricing, and incentives. So, I think that... Well, I think that probably gives you the answer. We need to ensure that we're achieving a sensible sales rate, and that's about how we appraise a site at the outset, make sure we're happy with the location, and make sure that we're pricing, we can build that site at a price that the market can take. And if we get that right, we would not need to chase volume with by ridiculous pricing discounts or incentives.
So the answer is, if we get it right, that doesn't become a problem for us unless the market simply grinds to a halt. But we're not in that place now. There is a market there. There are buyers there. I'm happy that we've currently got the right level of pricing and incentives. And we just need to work hard, make sure our homes are well presented, make sure our teams are chasing every lead, and that we're offering a great customer experience. We're also really pleased that we've introduced our part exchange offering, which is generating a lot of interest.
And so I think we're pulling all the right levers, but we're absolutely not going to chase sort of outperformance on volume by giving away profits.
Thank you. Following on from that previous question, what makes you confident buyers will turn up this year?
Well, great, great question. Let me just give you the backdrop, why I think there are actually no barriers to quite a healthy market. The house price affordability graphs are better than they've been for a number of years. House price inflation has been less than wage growth for several years now. The base rate is trending down. Mortgage market is strong. There are multiple high street offers for high LTV, well-priced mortgages. Consumer balance sheets, personal balance sheets, I understand from the economists who track these things, those are strong. The savings rate's been high. So there's actually no, if you like, macroeconomic reason why we shouldn't be in a, in an increasingly strong housing market.
What we need is confidence to grow. A confidence is a fragile flower, if you like. So what we need is no more invasions, no more geopolitical crises, no more gas crises, high energy prices, cost of living crisis. If we get some calm and stability in the wider environment, then that confidence will naturally grow. So, the evidence so far is that customers are coming back. That rate of sale is improving, not at the rate I would like it. Clearly, I don't have a crystal ball any more than anybody on the call does. But I can't guarantee that the sales rate is going to continue to get stronger, or indeed, that it's not going to turn down as it did last year.
There were specific reasons for that. But, right now, I think the fundamentals are in place for a half-decent market.
Thank you. What would you say to a long-term shareholder like me, who's frustrated at the moment?
Good, good question. I'm also a shareholder, and I'm also frustrated. I mean, so look, there are two elements to that. One is the wider market. For goodness' sake, it has been a long trudge. I get that for anybody. You know, since pretty much since Truss quitting, house building and all its knock-on, you know, if you're in construction products, it's been a hard slog. So there's a wider market. You know, when do we get some upturn from here? And also, I take the point that you're saying we've had some bad news out of Gleeson on more than one occasion, and when's that going to stop, Graham?
That's a very fair question. I turn you back to Project Transform. I think it's fair, it's fair to say there was a lot to be done in Gleeson when I joined. All was not well. We changed a lot on day one, and we've changed a huge amount. We've changed pretty much everything in Gleeson Homes since, and the latest change was the changes we announced in January. So, my biggest confidence in our ability to grow and improve from here is Project Transform. Clearly, the proof of that particular pudding will be in the eating as ever.
Thank you. Would you consider buyback shares if the price stays low?
My simple answer, and I'll welcome Stefan's view as well, my answer would be no, because I believe profoundly in the growth opportunity that we have in Gleeson, both in our homes business, most importantly in our homes business, and in our land business, albeit land doesn't consume particularly a great deal of working capital. So my answer would be no, share buybacks are not on my agenda. Stefan?
So, I mean, the board does consider this from time to time, as you might imagine, when it considers their capital allocation policy. Where the board is at the moment, both Graham and I are, is that, look, we've got—we're in the right part of the market. It's not a particularly strong market, but we've got a really strong pipeline, and we've got a really interesting period of growth ahead of us, and that could be not just a medium-term, but a long-term period of growth. To deliver that, we need to make sure that we manage our capital. So hence, we have a capital allocation policy, that a dividend cover policy that will see dividends covered between three and five times.
That's, by earnings, that's quite a high cover level, that's quite a low dividend yield. And at the moment, we think that we want to maintain that and preserve our capital to invest in the future growth in the business.
Brilliant. Thank you for that. Beyond the GBP 1.1 million savings announced, are there further cost efficiencies identified?
So for now, we are happy with the. We had a very good scour of our overhead in the lead-up to the January announcement. But like any well-run business, we will always keep our eye on opportunities to save costs, but I don't have any further plans this afternoon to be cutting costs further.
Brilliant. Thank you. We're now moving on to our final question. If you have any further questions, please email the team, and we'll respond to with any, any questions that weren't covered this morning... If you could change one thing in U.K. housing policy tomorrow, what would it be?
Great, great question. Well, I'll, I'll give Stefan a go as well, but I, I think mine probably came loud and clear in the presentation, and that's the P word, planning. Having said that, I recognize the challenges. I answered to the earlier question. I think the government is doing a lot that is right at the strategic allocation level, the National Planning Policy Framework and some of the things in the Planning and Infrastructure Act. But if we could reduce the burden of complexity and regulation that have to come with a planning permission and increase the capability and capacity in local authorities, that would absolutely be my top wish by some distance. But what would yours be, Stefan?
Mine would be planning, but let me give you one more. So we are in a market where there is a structural imbalance in supply and demand of high-quality, affordable housing. We're on the right side of that. What is holding the market back is an absence of confidence. So if there's one thing I could do, I'd just... If government policymakers could stop the noise and stop the fighting and allow that confidence to return, because it is there, you just continue to make people nervous and postpone and delay those really important decisions to buy a high-quality home that's good for their health, their wealth, and their well-being.
Thank you. We currently-
Yes.
Hmm?
Yes.
Sorry. We currently have no further questions, so I'll hand back to the management team for any closing remarks.
Yeah. For me, thanks very much for listening. I hope that's been helpful and insightful. If there are any further questions, I believe there's a facility to email. We'd be happy to try and help, but thanks for your time and good questions.
Thank you. Thank you to the management team for joining us today. That concludes the MJ Gleeson investor presentation. Please take a moment to complete a short survey following the event. The recording of this presentation will be available on Engage Investor. I hope you have enjoyed the webinar today.