Inland Homes profit surges on record revenue

Inland Homes' annual profit more than tripled as the housebuilder notched up record revenue and cut its debt.

Pretax profit rose to £13.2m in the year to the end of September from £3.4m a year earlier as revenue surged to £181.7m from £124m.

The company sold 216 private homes during the year, up from 96 a year earlier. The average selling price rose to £262,000 from £240,000. Inland sold a further 167 joint venture homes, up from 130 a year earlier.

The forward order book for partnership housing was £164.7m at the end of September compared with £105.8m a year earlier.

Net debt fell 20.3% to £118.1m. Inland said it expected to make a significant cut to its debt in the current year and the board would consider restarting dividends once that goal was achieved.

Stephen Wicks, Inland's chief executive, said: "This was a year of tangible progress, with the group ending the year strongly and trading in line with market expectations. We have achieved record revenue, delivered on our commitment to reduce net debt and have grown our asset management, partnership housing and private housebuilding divisions."

Inland shares rose 2.9% to 53.7p at 08:45 GMT.