Henry Boot Agrees Sale of c.600 plots

Henry Boot (or the "group") announces today that Hallam Land (Hallam), the group's land promotion and planning business, has unconditionally exchanged contracts for the sale of c.600 plots in the Midlands.

This latest residential sale resulted in an ungeared internal rate of return of 28% p.a. and takes Hallam's 2024 plot disposals to c.2,800. Whilst this is marginally below our sales target of 3,000 plots for the year, following last month's announcement of 52 acres of employment land in Coventry, Hallam is now on track to hit its full year financial target.

Hallam has seen noticeable improvements in the planning system since the change in Government during the summer. In the year to date, Hallam has secured consents on a total of 2,870 plots (2023: 1,014 plots), of which 2,056 have been achieved since the beginning of September. In addition, Hallam has appeals lodged on 2,189 plots across seven sites and in total has 11,191 plots in the planning system.

Hallam's land bank now has planning consent on 9,611 plots (June 2024: 7,990), and a further 10,000 plots are expected to be submitted into the planning system over the next 12 months, leaving the group in a strong position to meet its medium-term strategic target of selling 3,500 plots per annum.

Tim Roberts, CEO at Henry Boot, commented: "This latest sale of a significant parcel of consented residential land means that Hallam Land is firmly on track to meet its targets for land sales in this financial year.

"I am also pleased to note that under the new Government there has already been a welcome and much needed improvement in the planning system. We expect this to provide a strong tailwind to Henry Boot's ambition to accelerate the volume of plots submitted for approval from our well located land bank next year."

henryboot.co.uk