Investor Alert

Feb. 26, 2020, 2:33 a.m. EST

Taylor Wimpey profit beats views, upbeat for 2020

By Joe Hoppe

Taylor Wimpey PLC said Wednesday that pretax profit grew in 2019 ahead of market views, on the back of a resilient build market and stable house prices, though adjusted pretax profit fell.

The house builder said pretax profit for 2019 was 835.9 million pounds ($1.08 billion) compared with GBP810.7 million the year before and forecasts for profit of GBP824.6 million, taken from FactSet and based on six analysts' estimates.

Revenue rose to GBP4.34 billion from GBP4.08 billion the year before.

The company said that adjusted pretax profit--one of its preferred metrics which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell to GBP821.6 million from GBP856.8 million a year before, largely due to the statutory tax rate in the U.K.

Completions, including joint ventures, rose 5% to 15,719. Average home selling price, including private and affordable homes, rose to GBP269,000 compared with GBP264,000 in 2018.

Taylor Wimpey added that the new year has started well, with a good level of customer demand and a clearer political outlook.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

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