New boss says housebuilder in 鈥榤uch stronger position鈥� than a year ago

Greg fitzgerald

Bovis Homes boss Greg Fitzgerald says he has completed the restructuring of the business which last year saw it dogged by complaints over unfinished homes.

Fitzgerald, who joined the business last spring, said: 鈥淚 am very pleased with the level of operational progress the group has made during the year.

鈥淲e have significantly improved our customer satisfaction through a series of initiatives and controlled period ends.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he business starts the new financial year in a much stronger position as a result of all of these initiatives.鈥�

These have included sending staff on customer training programmes and restructuring the business from eight to seven operating regions.

Fitzgerald (pictured) added that it is targeting high quality site managers and has begun paying them more and investing in their training and development. 鈥淭he quality of our site managers is critical,鈥� he added.

The group posted a 26% fall in pre-tax profit to 拢114 million in 2017 as it booked exceptional items totalling 拢10.3 million.

This took in 拢3.5 million in customer care provision, 拢4 million in restructuring costs and 拢2.8 million advisory fees linked to defending itself from two aborted takeover attempts from rivals Galliford Try, where Fitzgerald was previously chief executive, and Steve Morgan鈥檚 Redrow.

Cenkos analyst Kevin Cammack said hiring Fitzgerald was a masterstroke and added: 鈥淚sn鈥檛 it amazing that in just 10 months with the enigmatic Greg Fitzgerald at the helm we can be waxing lyrical about recovery and not even giving a second thought to the frankly awful 2017 results and wasting any time dissecting the error of Bovis鈥� ways. That is the mark of the man and the difference he has made already.鈥�

Bovis completed 3,645 homes in 2017, 8% lower than the previous year, confirming a building slowdown as it focuses on quality.

Revenue dropped 3% to 拢1 billion, while the average selling price on completion increasing 7% to 拢272,400. Its margin fell to 18% from 19.8% with the firm eyeing a medium-term target of 23.5%.

In a note broker Peel Hunt said Fitzgerald鈥檚 recovery plan was bearing fruit. 鈥淣o big surprises in the finals with the group turning the corner in terms of performance in H2 on the back of the various changes brought in by the new CEO,鈥� it added.

It added that it expects to pay a 拢60m special dividend later this year with the firm handing shareholders a total of 拢180m by 2020.