Taylor Wimpey PLC
31 October 2007
31 October 2007
Taylor Wimpey plc
Trading Update
Taylor Wimpey plc is hosting a briefing for analysts in London later today, at
which management will discuss the progress of integration since the merger on 3
July 2007. Updates will also be given on current trading, the fair value review
and the share buyback programme. Copies of the presentations will be available
at www.taylorwimpey.com later today.
Overview
Taylor Wimpey is making strong progress on integration and we remain on track to
deliver synergy savings in line with the previously stated value and timetable.
Although market conditions in the UK are subdued and conditions continue to be
challenging in North America, the Group remains well placed to deliver on its
strategic objectives.
Integration Progress
We continue to make excellent progress on our integration targets. We are
confident of achieving the synergy run rate targets of £70m by the end of 2008
and £100m by the end of 2009, in line with the previously stated timetable.
Estimated merger costs remain at £60m.
In the UK, we have been able to accelerate our progress on achieving synergies
in both build and overhead costs. We are also identifying opportunities to
improve working capital efficiency during 2008.
In North America, the merger has brought us to critical mass in a number of our
markets, enabling us to negotiate beneficial supplier agreements at both a
national and a regional level. We have now completed a procurement and build
cost benchmarking exercise and will have a set of integrated operational
processes in place by the year end.
Current Trading
UK
As we anticipated at our Interim Results on 31 July, market conditions in the
second half to date have proved to be more subdued. Prices are stable, however
we have seen reductions in both visitor and reservation levels which have been
exacerbated by the recent turbulence in the financial markets.
Over the last three months, we have continued to focus on maintaining our margin
improvements rather than driving volume. Consequently we remain confident of
delivering an operating margin of 14 per cent for 2007 for the pro forma Taylor
Wimpey business, before fair value and accounting policy alignment adjustments.
Completion volumes for the year are expected to be around 5 per cent below the
2006 pro forma volume.
North America
Market conditions in the United States have deteriorated significantly over the
last two months, with turmoil in the US mortgage industry and a very low level
of customer confidence. Heavy discounting by competitors has led to further
price falls in many markets and a cancellation rate of c.30 per cent for our
North American business over the third quarter.
In contrast, our Canadian business continues to benefit from a robust operating
environment.
We are reviewing the carrying value of our land bank in North America and, given
the changing market conditions, we expect to make further inventory provisions
of around 15 per cent of North American capital employed at the end of the year.
The final outcome of this review will be reported with our Preliminary Results.
Spain, Gibraltar & Construction
Market conditions on mainland Spain have continued to worsen, although on
Mallorca and Gibraltar conditions have remained stable.
Our Construction business continues to perform in line with expectations. The
forward order book currently stands at £1.3bn, with significant contract awards
across the business and, in particular, for our Facilities Management
activities.
Fair Value Review
Following the merger between Taylor Woodrow plc and George Wimpey Plc, which was
legally structured as an acquisition of George Wimpey Plc, accounting standards
require a fair value review of the assets acquired as at 3 July 2007.
We have now reached a provisional result for this exercise. The overall outcome
is a net reduction of £26m in the book value of the assets acquired from George
Wimpey Plc and a resulting goodwill figure for the transaction of £332m.
The book value adjustments include decreases in value of £154m in US inventory
and £34m in UK inventory. The review has also resulted in a valuation of the
brands acquired of £140m. These adjustments are in addition to and separate from
the provisions made against the carrying value of our North American inventory.
These adjustments are expected to have a negative impact of approximately £38m
on the reported profit of the combined Group for 2007.
Share Buyback Programme
Following the announcement of our £750m share buyback programme at the time of
our Interim Results, we have now bought back a total of 52.6m shares at a total
cost of £164.3m.
Outlook
In North America, due to the continued fall in both prices and sales volumes we
only expect a modest contribution to profits in the second half of 2007.
Conditions are expected to remain extremely challenging for the balance of this
year and throughout 2008. Our strategy is to focus on recovering cash from
existing sites, reducing the cost base, and focusing on the fundamentals of the
business.
In the UK we anticipate that market conditions will remain subdued into the New
Year. However, long term supply constraints in the UK continue to provide
support to the market and our strong progress on integration will assist our
drive for relative margin improvement.
-ends-
Notes to editors:
On 3 July 2007, Taylor Woodrow plc and George Wimpey plc completed their merger
to form Taylor Wimpey plc. Taylor Wimpey plc is the UK's largest homebuilder and
is a member of the FTSE100.
Taylor Wimpey plc builds homes in the UK, North America, Spain and Gibraltar. It
aims to be the homebuilder of choice for customers, employees, shareholders and
for the communities in which it operates.
For further information please visit the company's website -
www.taylorwimpey.com
For further information please contact:
Taylor Wimpey
Jonathan Drake 020 7355 8109 / 07816 517 039
Finsbury
James Murgatroyd 020 7251 3801
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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