Upmarket housebuilder Cala on track for record turnover

Cala, the Edinburgh-based upmarket housebuilder, today said it was set to deliver its fifth consecutive year of record profits after seeing its annual turnover exceed £700 million for the first time.

Cala is on track for its fifth consecutive year of record profits. Picture: Contributed

The sales haul, for the 12 months to the end of June, would represent a jump of more than 19 per cent on the figure of £587.1m that Cala recorded for the previous year.

• READ MORE: Cala books another year of record profits

The record revenues come despite a fall in Cala’s average selling price to £497,000 – down from £538,000 a year earlier – which the firm attributed to a continued shift away from the £1m-plus market.

Total home completions jumped 46 per cent to 1,677, while the group secured planning permission on a further 3,156 plots across 33 sites with a potential gross development value of some £1.2 billion.

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Cala chief executive Alan Brown said: “2017 has been another record year for the group. Our performance for the 12 months to the end of June will see us deliver revenue in excess of £700m for the first time, which is a big step towards our stated aim of delivering an annual capacity of up to 2,500 units and £1bn of revenue by 2020.

“Following the general election result, we now have a Conservative government with a stated manifesto pledge to build one million new homes by 2020. However, if the UK is to stand any hope of delivering on this aim, urgent reform of the planning system is required to remove the obstructions that are preventing us and other developers from getting on and building the homes the country desperately needs.”

Brown added: “We enter the new financial year in a positive position with a strong level of forward private reservations that is actually ahead of our expectations. We continue to see good opportunities to buy high-quality land in attractive locations at affordable prices and I remain confident in both our near-term and longer-term growth plans.”

• READ MORE: China’s Evergrande emerges as potential Cala buyer

Cala life in 1875 as the City of Aberdeen Land Association and was bought by private equity firm Patron Capital Partners and insurer Legal & General four years ago in a deal worth £210m.

Last year, Chinese property developer Evergrande Group was named as a possible buyer of Cala.

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