Barratt Redrow sees FY at upper end; Unveils £100m buyback

(Sharecast News) - Housebuilder Barratt Redrow said it expected full-year earnings to be at the upper end of expectations after a jump in interim profits and also announced a £100m share buyback. The company on Wednesday posted pre-tax profit of £117.2m, up 23% and lifted its dividend by a quarter to 5.5p a share. Consensus estimates for 2025 adjusted profit before tax were £542m with a range of £506m to £588m.

"As the economic, political and lending environments have stabilised, there has been some recovery in customer demand and we have seen solid reservation activity since the start of January," said chief executive David Thomas.

"Whilst the housing market remains sensitive to the wider economy and mortgage rates and availability, there remains a significant shortage of homes in the UK."

Barratt, which took over Redrow last year, said it expected to deliver around 22,000 homes a year in the medium term, with operating margin recovering to around 15% and return on capital employed - including land creditors - to 20%.

Forward sales as at February 2 were 10,903 homes compared with 11,460 a year ago at a value of £3.35bn (£3,13bn in 2024) with 7,702 homes of these total forward sales either exchanged or contracted, down from 8,524.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com