Cairn Homes to resume dividend on back of first half recovery
Will Next 2,550 Year Cairn Deliver It And Said Homes Houses This
House building company Cairn Homes is to recommence shareholder dividends and expects to generate higher profits this year than previously anticipated, having seen a strong recovery in the first half of 2021.
Cairn has reported a first half operating profit of €11.7m; more than double what it made in the first half of last year. Revenue, for the six months to the end of June, was up 61% year-on-year at €130.6m.
The company now expects operating profit for this year, as a whole, to be in the region of €52m, increasing to around €85m in 2022. Its cumulative operating profit guidance for the two-year period to 2022 has increased by €17m to around €137m since March of this year, it said.
In terms of a dividend return, Cairn’s board has declared an interim dividend of 2.66c per share.
Cairn is back active on 17 development sites since fully reopening in April and has three new site commencements planned before the end of the year.
The company has grown its order book from €214m in January to a high of €655m. It said it will deliver 2,550 houses this year and next.
Chief executive Michael Stanley welcomed the Government’s Housing for All plan, but suggested a tweak to Central Bank mortgage rules is needed.
“In order for the Government’s plan to have the best chance of success, it is essential that it is complemented by Central Bank rules on mortgage lending which are more appropriate to today’s critical needs,” he said.
“A framework that remains prudent but gives thousands of prospective customers earning good salaries a greater opportunity to qualify for a mortgage is urgently needed for the tens of thousands of first-time buyers who remain trapped in the affordability gap,” according to Mr Stanley.
Cairn’s starter home average selling price stood at €327,000 in the first half of this year.