Henry Boot PLC, a Company engaged in land promotion, property investment and development, home building and construction, announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025. 

Operationally, we have had a solid first half, which is no mean feat in uncertain markets, but we are also making strong progress strategically. In particular, early investment into the resources at Hallam Land, anticipating positive changes to the NPPF, are already bearing fruit in the form of a good first half, both in terms of sales and planning consents. Equally, although trading is more subdued, in HBD and Stonebridge Homes, we have grasped the opportunity to build up a store of near-term opportunity, respectively, in the development pipeline and home building landbank. The announced sale of HBC also tightens our focus on our chosen areas of land promotion, development and home building. With 80% of budgeted sales achieved, we have confidence of meeting full-year expectations, and we also have conviction that there are clear opportunities within our high quality portfolio to hit our medium term growth and return targets.

Tim Roberts, Chief Executive Officer

Financial highlights

 

  • 19% increase in revenue to £126.4m (H1 24: £106.0m) driven by land and property disposals and profit before tax of £7.8m (H1 24: £3.7m) or £6.5m (H1 24: £3.6m) on an underlying statutory basis1
  • Completed and exchanged on total land and property sales of £159.6m, our share £99.3m (H1 24: £150.8m), against an uncertain backdrop reflecting resilient demand for our prime projects and buildings
  • 80% of budgeted sales for 2025 completed, exchanged or reserved, with the balance either under offer or in detailed negotiations.
  • 5% increase in interim dividend to 3.24p, consistent with our progressive dividend policy and our confidence in achieving full year performance in line with market expectations and in the group’s future prospects
  • Return on capital employed2 (ROCE) of 9.1% (H1 24: 4.9%). We remain confident of achieving returns within the target range of 10-15% over the medium term
  • Capital employed at £427m (December 2024: £439m), reflecting the first tranche payment of the Stonebridge Homes (SBH) acquisition in line with the group’s ambition to grow its home building business
  • The group’s Net Asset Value3 (NAV) per share, excluding the defined benefit scheme, was 304p (31 December 2024: 312p). The NAV per share was 307p as of 30 June (December 2024: 317p)
  • Net debt4 at £88.1m (December 2024: £62.7m) with gearing at 21.4% (December 2024: 14.7%) as we invest in accelerating planning applications on Hallam land sites, grow SBH’s land bank and position the business for future growth 

 

Operational highlights

 

  • Land promotion
    • Hallam Land has had a strong start to 2025, with 1,222 plots sold in the first half (H1 24: 843), with 410 plots exchanged, and another 1,959 plots under offer. We are on target to exceed 3,500 plot sales this year (December 2024: 2,661)
    • Following the amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and investment in our workforce and systems, we are on track to submit applications for 10,000 plots this year. To date planning for 4,844 plots has been submitted
    • We have secured planning on 2,782 plots year to date, with 1,237 in H1 25. This brings our total plots with planning to 8,837 as of 30 June (December 2024: 8,822), or 9,972 including post-half-year consents
    • The total land bank has grown to 107,173 plots (December 2024: 104,787)

 

  • Property investment & development
    • The Origin joint venture (JV) with Feldberg Capital, seeded by three sites with a combined Gross Development Value (GDV) of £100m, is progressing well, with good occupier interest and its first pre-let secured. The JV is expected to add a further £56m GDV in H2 25
    • We have a high quality committed development programme with a GDV of £128m (our share: £37m) as well as a strong near term pipeline, including the first phase (£98m GDV) of Golden Valley, Cheltenham, an innovation and technology project located adjacent to GCHQ
    • £1.5bn development pipeline (our share: £1.3bn GDV), of which 56% is focused on Industrial & Logistics (I&L) markets
    • Our investment portfolio (IP) total property return5 of 5.7%, was again ahead of the CBRE UK Monthly Index (4.2%). Four sales were completed or exchanged in H1 25 for a total of c.£18m at an average 12% premium. IP now valued at £96.1m (December 2024: £107.4m)

 

  • Home building
    • In January 2025, the group increased its ownership in SBH to 62.5%, and integration has been progressing well
    • During the period, SBH completed 85 homes (H1 24: 90 homes), with private average sales price on completions up 3% to £391k (H1 24: £381k)
    • Net private weekly reservation rate was 0.45 in H1 25 (H1 24: 0.50), operating from an average of 9 sales outlets (H1 24: 8 outlets)
    • In line with its growth ambitions, SBH has secured 846 plots in the period, resulting in a total owned and controlled land bank of 2,487 plots (December 2024: 1,726)

 

  • Construction
    • The construction segment achieved turnover of £41.0m (H1 24: £43.5m) with an operating profit of £1.9m (H1 24: £2.9m)
    • Sale of Henry Boot Construction has been agreed for £4.0m with completion around YE 25

 

  • Responsible business
    • We are making good progress towards our medium term Responsible Business Strategy targets set in January 2022, which will be refreshed in 2026

 

Click here to view the full 2025 interim results announcement.

 

Notes: 

1    Underlying profit before tax is an alternative performance measure (APM) and is defined as profit before tax excluding revaluation movements on completed investment properties. Revaluation movement on completed investment properties includes gains of £1.3m (2024: £nil) on wholly owned completed investment property and gains of £nil (2024: £0.1m) on completed investment property held in joint ventures. This APM provides the users with a measure that excludes specific external factors beyond management's controls and reflects the group’s underlying results. This measure is used in the business in appraising senior management performance.

 

2    Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) is an APM and is a 12 month rolling average defined as operating profit /average of total assets less current liabilities (excluding DB pension surplus) at the opening and closing balance sheet dates.

 

3     Net Asset Value (NAV) per share is an APM and defined using the statutory measures net assets/ordinary share capital.

 

4     Net (debt)/cash is an APM and is reconciled to statutory measures in note 14.

 

5    Total property return is a metric that combines capital and income returns for the investment portfolio. It is calculated as the percentage value change plus net income accrual, relative to the capital employed and is calculated on a monthly basis and then indexed in line with the benchmark.

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