MJ Gleeson FY profits slide amid planning setbacks

Residential construction group MJ Gleeson said on Wednesday that planning setbacks had resulted in a significant profit decline for the year ended 30 June.

Overall revenue rose 5.2% year-on-year to £345.3m but MJ Gleeson stated pre-tax profits had slumped 21.3% to £24.9m, citing the "vagaries of the planning system" as the root cause of its problems, as well as higher interest rates and increased levels of borrowing.

MJ Gleeson sold 1,772 new homes throughout the year, up from 1,2723 in 2023, but added that operating profits had slipped from £35.0m to £30.3m.

Looking forward, the London-listed firm stated it was well-positioned for future growth and aims to deliver as many as 3,000 new homes per year and pre-tax profits to "broadly triple".

Chief executive officer Graham Prothero said: "We welcome the Government's proposed policy reforms with a focus on affordable housebuilding and planning reform, which should benefit both Gleeson Homes and Gleeson Land. Having spent the last year and a half on positioning the business for growth and introducing several related strategic initiatives, we now look forward to executing our strategy and delivering our growth target."

As of 0925 BST, MJ Gleeson shares were up 1.21% at 568.80p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com