Strong results in the USA fail to offset poor UK performance.
A poor performance in the UK dragged down interim pre-tax profit at George Wimpey by 21% to £122.3m.
A strong performance from its US business Morrison Homes was not enough to offset a weak UK market, and George Wimpey UK’s operating profit fell by 32% to £106.7m.
Group turnover overall dropped 2% to £1.19bn, but in the UK it dropped by 10% to £858.4m.
Completions in the UK were down 10% to 4,576 and average selling price remained roughly level at £184,600.
The US market is strong and operating profit at Morrison Homes rose 69% to $101.9m.
Chief executive Peter Johnson said that he had faith in the long-term business and that the group had benefited from having a UK and US presence: “This provides us with the opportunity to balance our investments as market conditions change.”
Shares dropped by 1% or 4p this morning to 410.5p.
