LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Housebuilder MJ Gleeson said on Monday that full-year revenue is expected to slump 42% as it takes a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, but that there has been a strong recovery in customer demand.
Gleeson said group revenue for FY2020 will be around £145m, down from £249.9m in 2019.

The company said 62 of its 67 build sites have re-opened so far and construction activity has recommenced on 43 sites. It said that as expected, "safe-working protocols" are having an impact on productivity and build rate.

"However, we believe there is scope to improve productivity and build rate by the introduction of new working practices within the Covid-19 Secure protocols."

Sales offices and show homes have reopened on 40 sites and will reopen on a further 15 sites by the end of the month.

Reservation levels, which had fallen to 25% of pre-Covid levels in the past few months, have increased "significantly" in the last two weeks, with reservations at 70% of pre-Covid levels.

"We continue to see price increases being achieved on newly released plots for sale on most sites and incentives remaining low. We have not experienced any impact on lender valuations," Gleeson said.

It enabled 43 customers to complete their purchase and move into their homes in April and May, taking year-to-date sales to 1,037 homes by the end of May, with completions expected to continue at a similar pace in June.

So far, Gleeson has brought back 275 of the 456 staff that were furloughed in April. In total, 30% of staff remain furloughed but all are expected to have gone back to work by the end of July.

The forward order book for sales in the next financial year stands at £135.2m on 940 plots versus £87.6m on 677 plots at the end of June 2019.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Gleeson was planning to open 17 new sites in the final quarter of the year. It said three new sites have been opened and a further site is expected to open in the next two weeks, bringing the total number of build sites to 71 by the end of June compared to 69 in the same period a year ago.

Gleeson Strategic Land completed the sale of two small sites before the end of March and will not complete any more sales before 30 June.

At 1230 BST, the shares were down 2.1% at 710.89p.

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