Improving margins and sales are expected to lift Barratt’s annual operating profits by 41% to around £191m before debt repayments.

According to a trading statement ahead of official end of year results, Barratt said it had made significant progress in both rebuilding profitability and reducing indebtedness.

The builder said it expected operating margins to rise from 8% to 9.5% for the first six months of this year, and had increased the number of active sites from 364 last year to 391.

Mark Clare, group chief executive, said “This year has seen a rapidly improving performance across the group and shows that our strategy is delivering.

“We expect to make further good progress in the year ahead thanks to a strong forward order book, with private forward sales up 35% and more higher return land coming into production.”