(Alliance News) - MJ Gleeson PLC on Tuesday said it is starting to reap the rewards from its restructured operations as it reported a dive in profit amid higher cost of sales.
Sheffield, England-based MJ Gleeson describes itself as a low-cost housebuilder and land promoter.
The company said pretax profit halved to GBP3.6 million in the six months to December 31, from GBP7.2 million a year ago.
Revenue grew 4.2% to GBP157.9 million from GBP151.5 million. The company noted "resilient underlying demand and continuing affordability."
Notably, Gleeson Homes revenue grew 10% to GBP156.6 million from GBP142.3 million, while Gleeson Land revenue dived 86% to GBP1.3 million from GBP9.2 million.
"Gleeson Land is progressing a number of significant opportunities which we expect to complete during the second half. The business is starting to reap the rewards from its restructured operations and market-leading research and data analytics capabilities, and will continue to grow its portfolio of sites in the second half and beyond. We are already seeing the benefit of the changes to the national planning policy framework, with three planning consents achieved post period end," the company said.
Cost of sales increased 11% to GBP126.1 million from GBP113.6 million. Administrative costs decreased 8.4% to GBP26.8 million from GBP29.2 million.
MJ Gleeson declared an unchanged interim dividend of 4.0 pence per share.
Chief Executive Officer Graham Prothero said: "At Gleeson Homes, there are early indications of an improving selling season with much stronger net reservation rates in the first four weeks. More importantly, we are pleased with the progress of our site opening programme which will drive sustained growth over the medium-term."
MJ Gleeson said it is confident in meeting current market expectations, citing a pretax profit consensus of GBP28.0 million for financial year 2025 ending on June 30, up 13% from GBP24.8 million in financial 2024.
Further, it said consensus for total dividend per share for financial year 2025 is 11.6p, up 5.5% from 11.0p a year prior.
"Whilst we anticipate the market will continue to recover over the coming months, helped by further interest rate cuts, the timing and trajectory of that recovery remains uncertain," MJ Gleeson said.
MJ Gleeson shares were 1.9% higher at 501.00p each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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