Bank deal frees Taylor Wimpey to buy land

Aaron Morby 14 years ago
Share

Taylor Wimpey has secured a new credit deal with its banks, which will give it more freedom to buy land as the market improves.

The house builder’s banks agreed the new £950m credit facility, conditional on the firm securing £350m of debt funding and renegotiating several bond arrangements.

Following the pivotal deal, group finance director Chris Rickard is leaving the firm and will be replaced by Ryan Mangold, who joined Taylor Wimpey as group financial controller in April 2009.

The revised credit facility has put the house builder on a much firmer footing lifting previous restrictions on buying land.

In a trading update, Taylor Wimpey warned lack of mortgages for many borrowers was continuing to squeeze the  housing market, but it predicted full-year pretax profit would be at the upper end of its expectations.

Improved trading and profitability has helped the group reduce net debt from around £860m last year to £720m.

Peter Redfern, group chief executive, said: “The significant progress we have made on refinancing the group gives us greater operational flexibility and puts us in a strong position as we look forward to 2011.”

He added: “In the UK, we anticipate that trading will continue to be subdued for the remainder of this year due to the continuing impact of constrained mortgage lending and ongoing wider economic uncertainty.

“We expect to enter 2011 with a solid order book and we remain focused on our strategy of maximising margins and returns rather than looking to accelerate volume growth.”

He said that selling prices had been stable in the second half of the year and did not reflect falling prices highlighted in recent Halifax and Nationwide housing surveys.

Redfern added Taylor Wimpey was seeing attractive opportunities to buy land and it had committed to develop 378 homes at eight residential sites in the south east.

Latest news

Morgan Sindall to build former Willmott Dixon leisure job

New contractor appointed on
14 hours ago

Graham consortium wins £400m Manchester job

Equitix consortium to now work up DBFO plans for University of Manchester’s Fallowfield Campus
11 hours ago

Keltbray looking to sell infrastructure business

£378m turnover rail, energy and highways business up for sale
21 hours ago

Innovative viaduct building method used for first time in UK

HS2 contractors will build nine viaducts in Delta Junction using special cantilevered process
22 hours ago

Unite buys London site to fast-track 444-bed student scheme

£800m to be spent on London development pipeline in next five years
22 hours ago

CITB awards £2.5m of contracts to management consultant

Three outsourced deals in the last year for "project leadership and management consultancy"
22 hours ago

Village centre approved for 6,000-home new town plan

Hampshire's Welborne Garden Village plan has been in the pipeline for two decades.
21 hours ago

£3m fine after cherry picker demolition death

Court rules after tragedy during decommissioning of gas rig
22 hours ago

BAM plans wave of job cuts at UK Construction arm

Co-op Live arena plunges Bam Construction to £19.5m first-half loss
2 days ago

Robot tunnel builder goes into administration

Hypertunnel was hoping to revolutionise how underground structures are built
2 days ago

Wates to build £86m Guildford Council housing scheme

40% of the 248 homes will become council homes under partnership deal
2 days ago

“Scrap CITB” say three quarters of construction firms

Payroll giant Hudson Contract calls for CITB to be absorbed into new Skills England training body
2 days ago

£100m Prestwich Village revival approved

Vinci and Willmott Dixon in chase for Muse-led regeneration scheme
2 days ago

Carbon negative asphalt aggregate trialled on M11

Skanska and Tarmac test CO2 absorbing aggregate material on stretch of Essex motorway
2 days ago

Father and son sentenced over covid construction loan fraud

Bristol builders given suspended jail sentences over bogus Bounce Back Loans
2 days ago

Beck Interiors files administration notice

Supply chain has suffered delayed payments from £139m-turnover luxury fit out specialist
3 days ago

Green light for York Central civil service office hub

£60m office project accelerates York Central goods yard redevelopment
3 days ago

Blenheim House Construction enters administration

Administrators looking at options on present projects
3 days ago

Profits rise at Esh Group with more to come

Contractor confident about year ahead as market conditions move in right direction
3 days ago

Piling specialist Van Elle sees housing orders rise 30%

Mark Cutler says firm on course to deliver 10% annual sales growth
3 days ago

HS2 to spend £100m shutting sites where work never started

Remediation of sites no longer needed for cancelled Phase 2 will take three years
4 days ago

Willmott Dixon wins £61m deal for new Army dog unit

Contractor to revamp Kendrew Barracks in Rutland
3 days ago

Stockport advances 4,000-home Town Centre East plan

Council seeks consultants to steer plan for 280-acre area in the city
3 days ago

ISG sale imminent as buyers set-up UK holding company

South African nutrition entrepreneur and Australian partner primed to take over
4 days ago

CR Construction wins £210m Manchester towers

Construction to start next year on four blocks ranging from nine to 34-storeys
4 days ago

Southern Housing to rationalise supply chain following merger

Firms put on alert for £1.7bn construction framework renewal
4 days ago

Decision delayed on 52-storey Isle of Dogs tower

Hong Kong developer plans 460 flats block next to Millwall Inner Dock
4 days ago

Go-ahead for £850m North London estate rebuild

Flagship Edmonton housing estate redevelopment will deliver 2,000 new homes
4 days ago

Mace lands £184m Oxford Science Park contract

Contractor to build trio of laboratory and office buildings
5 days ago

Worker paralysed in 30ft fall during electricity pylon demolition

Specialist firm fined £240,000 after court hears linesman attached lanyard to a loosened steel section
4 days ago

Contractor services