Profits drop at retirement homebuilder McCarthy & Stone

Since April last year, the company that buys land and then builds, sells and manages retirement houses and flats, has been undergoing a strategic review, led by chairman Paul Lester.

The company said its orders as of April were down 17 per cent at £485m compared with a year earlier. Its operating margin for the six months ended February 28 also fell to 2.1 per cent from 5.6 per cent a year earlier.

However, its underlying margin rose by 1.6 percentage points to 7.6 per cent.

The first-half pre-tax profit of Britain’s biggest builder of homes for retirees fell to £3.6m from £10.5m last year, but underlying profit rose by 64 per cent.

John Tonkiss, CEO of McCarthy & Stone, said: “We are making significant progress across our strategic objectives, which focus on optimising our operations to deliver strong financial performance and increasing our return on capital employed, margins and cash generation over the next three years.”