Stewart Milne back on market and attracting 'serious' interest

Aberdeen-headquartered housebuilder Stewart Milne Group has attracted a number of “seriously interested parties” after being put back on the market.

Stuart MacGregor, chief executive of Stewart Milne Group, alongside chief financial officer Fraser Park, at the firm's Shawfair development.

The revelation came as the group delivered its best pre-tax profit result for almost a decade despite a fall in housing completions in the wake of the pandemic. Unveiling figures for the year to the end of October 2022, chief executive Stuart MacGregor said that as a result of the more positive outlook for the UK housing market, the board had decided to recommence a competitive sales process.

“We initially embarked on a sale process in early 2022 after founder and major shareholder, Stewart Milne, announced his decision to retire,” he said. “This attracted significant interest and was progressing well. However, the economic uncertainty caused by the UK government’s mini-budget in September 2022, prompted us to suspend the sale process in December last year. Since January 2023, however, the UK housing market has rebounded to more normal activity levels with robust house prices and demand.

“Reservation levels for Stewart Milne homes, across Scotland and north-west England, have exceeded those for the same period in the previous year. This exceptionally strong performance and more positive market conditions, along with renewed interest from potential buyers, have led to our decision to go back out to the market. We already have a number of seriously interested parties.”

The group posted a pre-tax profit of £16.5 million for the year to October, despite turnover falling by £48.7m to £172.4m. Operating profit came in at £7.1m, down by £1.4m on the previous year. A gain arising from the sale of the company’s timber systems business in December 2021 and “significant efficiencies” helped push pre-tax profits to a level not seen for almost a decade.

Chief financial officer Fraser Park said: “With two years of strong growth in operating margin performance, as a result of these transformative initiatives, we are highly confident of delivering future growth when combined with increased investment in new sites.”

Reduced spend on land in the previous two years, said to be a direct result of Covid, led to the number of housing units falling from 828 to 583.

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