Drop is in line with seasonal trend, says housebuilder

Housebuilder Barratt has said a drop in reservations since the end of June is in line with seasonal trends.

At its 2010 results presentation on Wednesday, the company said net private reservations in the 10 weeks since its year-end averaged 0.48 per active site per week, down on last year鈥檚 figure of 5.1%.

The dip followed weekend reports that reservation levels had fallen to their lowest levels on record during August.

A company statement said: 鈥淭his [0.48] is slightly down on the prior year when sales for the traditionally quieter period were stronger than normal but it is in line with the rate required to achieve our projected volumes for the current financial year.鈥�

In the 12 months to 30 June 2010, net private reservations were up 4.2% at a figure of 0.5 per active site per week.

However total completions were down from 13,277 to 11,377, in line with the company鈥檚 policy of accepting 鈥渓ower sales volumes to preserve value鈥�.

As a result, Barratt鈥檚 operating profit before exceptional items was 拢90.1m, up from 拢34.2m in 2009, producing an operating margin of 4.4% (2009: 1.5%).

The company statement added: 鈥淒uring the year conditions in the housing market in Britain steadily improved. Nevertheless, by historic standards the market remained difficult and activity levels continued to be extremely low in terms of the number of house buyers and sellers.鈥�

As part of the housebuilder鈥檚 efforts to put the company on an even financial keel, net debt was slashed from 拢1.3bn to 拢367m.

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