Taylor Wimpey cites 'uncertainty' ahead of Budget as profits fall

(Sharecast News) - Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reported a slide in full-year profit on Thursday as it pointed to "uncertainty" ahead of the Budget last year, and said operating profits were set to fall in 2026. In the year to the end of December 2025, pre-tax profit dropped 54.3% to £146.5m, while adjusted operating profit ticked up 1.1% to £420.6m. Revenue rose 13% to £3.8bn and completions including joint ventures increased to 11,229 from 10,593 in 2024.

Excluding JVs, completions rose to 10,614 from 9,972 - in the middle of the company's guidance range - including 2,220 affordable homes, versus 2,178 a year earlier.

The UK net private sales rate was 0.75 homes per outlet per week, in line with the prior year and the average selling price on private completions was £374,000, up from £356,000.

Taylor Wimpey ended the year with an order book valued at £1.9bn, down from £2bn a year earlier.

The company said 2025 was another challenging year for the sector. The first quarter was strong, it said, reflecting interest rate reductions and wage growth.

"However, uncertainty ahead of the late Autumn Budget impacted sales through the second half of 2025 and our order book coming into 2026," it said. "While overall affordability is slowly improving, demand continues to be muted, particularly in the South and among the important first time buyer category, which is constraining overall sector output."

The housebuilder had already guided that the group adjusted operating profit margin for 2026 would be lower than 2025, reflecting softer pricing in the order book coming into the year together with continued low single digit build cost inflation.

As a result, it expects 2026 adjusted operating profit to fall to around £400m.

The company also announced a £52m share buyback to begin "shortly" and to be completed by the end of June.

Chief executive Jennie Daly said: "The Spring selling season is progressing well, with encouraging levels of customer interest reflecting the quality of our sites and locations. We are also driving growth in outlets through improved planning outcomes and the consistent and proactive approach of our teams, which will support our growth ambitions.

"Taylor Wimpey is a strong and agile business with highly experienced teams, and we are well positioned to generate value from our high-quality, well located landbank. Against a backdrop of continuing market uncertainty and more recent geopolitical events, we remain focussed on delivering our strategy set out at our recent Investor and Analyst event in October. This is progressing well and the actions we are taking give us confidence in our ability to deliver profitable growth and maximise shareholder returns over the medium term."