Building group McInerney earned profits of €23.8 million in 2003, compared with €16.4 million in 2002, amid continuing strong demand for housing.
A key driver of the strong growth was a 28 per cent increase in total completions to 1,481. In Britain, private completions increased from 257 to 447; in Ireland completions increased by 90 to 969.
Operating margin was 10.3 per cent in 2003, slightly ahead of the previous year of 10.2 per cent. This was below our expectation of 11.0 per cent and reflects McInerney's strong forward selling strategy in Ireland.
The house-building margin in Ireland was 12.2 per cent in 2003, down from the 13.5 per cent achieved in 2002.
McInerney's residential land bank at the end of December, at over 4,200 plots, was similar to the level of plots at the beginning of 2003.
Hillview Securities, the group's commercial property division, completed sales of 132,500 square feet of industrial units, compared to 19,800 square feet in 2002. Turnover in the commercial division increased to €14.2 million in 2003, from €2.4 million in the previous year.
In Spain, 65 units were completed in 2003, compared to 25 in 2002. There were 67 deposits on hand at year-end. A final dividend of 6 cent is proposed, bringing the total dividend for the year to 11 cent.