Firm that was recently sold to private equity says starts held up by red tape
Cala Group saw profit and turnover fall last year but said it was confident that its expansion of new sites will lead to future growth.
The Edinburgh-based housebuilder, which last September was sold by L&G to US private equity firm Sixth Street and former owner Patron Capital for 拢1.4bn, reported pre-tax profit of 拢78.2m for the year to 31 December.
This was down 30% on the 拢112.3m reported the previous year. Its turnover fell 4% to 拢1.2bn over the same period with the number of homes sold falling slightly from 2,917 to 2,861.
In its accounts, Cala said the fall in revenue was due to a combination of fewer completions, a lower average asking price due to site mix and 鈥渁 number site starts delayed due to planning鈥�.
But it said it increased the number of new projects started in the year, which should deliver results in the second half of 2025 and next year and 鈥渇orm the base for the next stage in growing the business.鈥�
In 2024, it started work on 31 new sites 鈥� up from 19 the previous year 鈥� which it said will deliver 3,568 homes.
Cala chief executive Kevin Whitaker said: 鈥淲hile still early to predict, the positive start to the year alongside improved consumer sentiment provide reasons for optimism that we could see more positive market conditions as 2025 progresses.鈥�
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