Insider Media Limited

Steve Morgan, the chairman of housebuilder Redrow, said he was optimistic about the Flintshire company’s prospects as it unveiled an 80 per cent jump in half year pre-tax profits.

Redrow made a pre-tax profit of £15.3m in the six months to December, up from £8.5m in the same period a year earlier, on revenue which rose to £233m from £216m.

Redrow said this morning (23 February 2012) that revenues had been boosted by increased sales of its New Heritage Collection of homes and a 19 per cent rise in average selling prices.

The second half of Redrow’s financial year started well, with the value of private reservations up 11 per cent to £69m and weekly sales in line with last year's strong performance.

Morgan said Redrow should benefit from the UK government’s NewBuy mortgage indemnity scheme. He said: "We expect mortgages under the scheme to be available towards the end of next month and we will ensure we have homes available to meet what should be a noticeable increase in the number of purchasers able to proceed.

"The success of the scheme, however, will be entirely dependent on the major lenders making available mortgage products at competitive interest rates."

But Morgan said Redrow's performance was being held up by delays in the planning system ahead of publication of the UK government’s National Planning Policy Framework, which is due by the end of March.

He said: "In the meantime, the lack of formal guidance has been an excuse for many local authorities to frustrate or delay decisions. We currently have around 65 sites in various stages of planning, which is well over double what you would expect if the planning system was operating efficiently."

Morgan added: "We have a strong pipeline of new sites and provided we can overcome delays in the planning system we expect to see a steady growth in outlets over the coming months. Short of a crisis in the eurozone seriously denting confidence, Redrow is set to continue along its path of recovery."