LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Homebuilder Barratt on Wednesday lifted annual profit forecasts driven by strong demand.
The company said pre-tax profit after adjusted items of about £107m was expected to be at the top end of a range of £761m - £812m while adjusted profit was forecast to be marginally higher than expectations of £860m - £899m.

Barratt completed 17,243 homes in the year, ahead of previous guidance and higher than the 12,604 homes seen last year, but down from 17,856 homes in 2019 before the Covid pandemic struck.

Total forward sales for stood at 14,334 homes at 30 June 2021, up from 14,326 homes last year at a value of £3.47bn, up from £3.24bn in 2020 and £2.6bn two years ago. Its private homes selling price rose to about £325,000 in the year, up from £310,600.

However, the company also revealed a further hit for cladding safety works after the Grenfell Tower disaster, taking the annual bill to around £81m. The group is setting aside around another £30m for remedial works in the second half.

Barratt said it was liaising with owners, management companies and expert engineers on assessments of buildings it constructed and the works needed to support leaseholders and residents.

The building industry has been been scrambling to address potentially unsafe cladding on buildings following the 2017 Grenfell tower fire which killed 72 people. However many leaseholders have been left with massive bills to pay for the work themselves.

"We recognise that the complex issues surrounding fire safety guidance are causing distress for affected home-owners across the country," Barratt said.

"We will continue to dedicate significant focus to this area, as founding signatories to the Building Safety Charter and active members of the government's Early Adopters Group, which is committed to protecting life by putting safety first ahead of all other building priorities."

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