Henry Boot PLC (BOOT) Q4 2024 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

So, morning everybody. So it's going to be the normal running order. I'm going to start off with the brief introduction and then review of our performance. And then Darren's going to go through the financials and land promotion. Then I'm going to finish off on development, construction and Stonebridge and also Outlook. So, first of all, an introduction. Our focus on high-quality land, prime development and premium homes helped us to achieve total land and property sales of nearly £350 million, or our share, £224 million. This is broadly in line with the sales over the last three years and shows it's a time when the markets have been pretty challenging that demand for our property remains resilient. We also continue to make good strategic progress and we've done three things. We've agreed terms to take full ownership of Stonebridge Homes. Following a strategic workforce plan at Hallam, we're increasing headcount and also in-house specialism to enable us to submit more planning consents and then ultimately to grow the sales of the business. And then we've also entered into the Origin Joint Venture, and I believe that that's going to help us to accelerate industrial development. And throughout this period, as you have grown to expect, guess what? Our bannet sheet has remained rock solid. And our NAV, it keeps on growing. It's just over £3 a year. per share and as you all know again very conservatively valued because the land and the developments are held at cost. The decision to increase our full year dividend by 5% is a sign that we continue to have conviction on our three key markets and we're confident in hitting our medium term targets. And we also believe we're not only well positioned as our markets recover, but also we think that we can take full advantage of the...