Record construction orders for Miller

Housing sales are up and the development order book is at a record high of £1.5bn.

Profit before tax was £6.6m for the year to 31 December 2012. This came at the back of a £30.4m loss in 2011 before exceptional items.

Group revenue was up 5% to £619.9m.

The main drivers behind the increased profit were housing, where new land bought more cheaply yielded increased margins, and the mining business, because of coal prices hedged at favourable rates.

Construction produced a profit before interest of £3.2m (2011: £6.8m) on turnover of £259.4m (2011: £238.6m). Greater than £500m of recent work was booked in the course of the year, 50% higher than in 2011. This led to a year-end order book of £844m, plus an extra estimated workload of £686m from framework agreements over the subsequent five years.

Total housing sales increased by 5% to at least one,831 units (2011: 1,745 units) with a standard selling price of £170,000, a rise of 6% (2011: £161,000).

Miller was refinanced in February 2012, bringing in £160m of latest equity investment, making GSO Capital Partners, a division of The Blackstone Group, the key shareholder.

Group chief executive Keith Miller said: “The group performed well, with underlying profit before interest up 40% in comparison with last year. Although we’re continuing to function in a demanding economic environment, the gang has a powerful balance sheet and long time committed bank facilities, which supplies us with financial flexibility. We’ve got made good progress in improving the margins in our consented land bank and, moreover, we’ve a valuable strategic land portfolio that may underpin our future land requirements. Inclusive of a record construction order book and a top quality commercial property development pipeline, the crowd is strongly positioned for 2013 and beyond.”