Last updated 9 March 2023
Taylor WImpey Plc
Taylor Wimpey is one of the UK’s top three housebuilders by any measure. The group grew out of a stone-working business founded by George Wimpey in Hammersmith and a contracting business formed in Blackpool in 1921. In 2007, Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey merged to form Taylor Wimpey, which at the time was the UK’s largest housebuilder.
Taylor Wimpey operates from a network of 23 regional offices and sells more than 14,000 homes a year in the UK and has annual revenue of more than £4.4 billion.
Financials
After a strong rebound in the previous year from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Taylor Wimpey’s revenue grew at a slower rate in 2022, edging up 3.2% to £ 4,419.9 million (2021: £4,284.9 million). Profit before tax leapt 21.9% to £827.9 million (2021: £698.2 million) and at an operating level profits increased 11.4% to £923.4 million (2020: £828.6 million).
To view the full-year financials for Taylor Wimpey Plc, visit Companies House and use Company ID 296805.
Operations
In the UK, the group operates through the Taylor Wimpey brand, having phased out its legacy trading names, Bryant Homes and George Wimpey. In September 2008, the construction arm Taylor Woodrow, was sold for £74 million to French group VINCI. This left Taylor Wimpey as a more-focused and streamlined housebuilding group. However, the group continues to operate outside the UK with a small business in Gibraltar and Spain.
The group operates five regions in Britain: Scotland, North East and North Yorkshire; North West and Yorkshire; Midlands and Wales; London and South East; and Central, South West, which also incorporates the Spanish operations.
The group is also part of consortia of housebuilders seeking to develop major sites such as the £225 million Hampden Fields development at Aylesbury, which will provide around 3,000 homes (Project ID: 12097601).
Major developments on site by Taylor Wimpey include the Chiltern Woods scheme in Suffolk to deliver 1,150 homes (Project ID: 16050218) and the £104 million Willow Lake development in Milton Keynes set to produce 1,650 units (Project ID: 14010243).
In the UK in 2022, total completions edged up to 14,154 units (2021: 14,087 units). The average selling prices (ASP) on private completions rose by 5% to £352,00 (2020: £332,000), with the overall ASP increasing 4% to £313,000 (2020: £300,000).
In the UK, the short-term land bank fell to circa 83,000 plots (2021: 785,000 plots) but this still represents six years of supply at current build rates. Outside of its own planning programme, Taylor Wimpey also sources land through government sales of state owned land, such as Transport for London’s Property Partnership Framework, which is aimed at realizing £3.6 billion-worth of residential schemes over the next decade.
Glenigan Data
Glenigan’s research shows that in the 2022 calendar year, Taylor Wimpey sent in 69 detailed planning applications for private new-build housing (2021: 93) and a total number of 11,843 units were included in these applications (2021: 16,671 units).
Conclusion: Falling sales ahead
Taylor Wimpey’s revenue edged up on the back of rising house prices and a greater number of sales outlets, up to 259 (2021: 228), but completions were virtually static in 222. Profits increased and the operating margins passed the 20% barrier, hitting 20.3% (2021: 19.3%) but weakness in the housing market as the cost of living crisis and interest rate rises bite is going to hit home.
In the second half of 2022, the group reduced land spending, tightened cost controls and work in progress. A round of redundancies will cost £8 million but produce annual savings of £20 million.
Taylor Wimpey has also slowed down its planning programme. After a 41% rise in 2021, Taylor Wimpey’s planning pipeline slumped 29% in 2022. In terms of planning activity, Taylor Wimpey remains in third place in Glenigan’s ranking of UK housebuilders by the number of units in their annual planning programme behind Persimmon and Bellway.
The focus on larger developments has ebbed but the number of houses in the pipeline has increased. In 2022, the average detailed planning application contained 171 units (2021: 179 units) with 92% of homes proposed housing and the balance apartments (2021: 89% housing/11% flats).
Proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework will hit land supply the number of plots converted from the strategic landbank. In 2021, 50% of our completions were sourced from the strategic pipeline (2020: 555) but the number of units converted from the strategic landbank doubled to circa 8,000 plots (2020: 4,000 plots).
Build cost inflation in the wake of Brexit remains a concern and the group’s peer, Persimmon, countered rising build costs by seizing control of parts of the supply chain, notably bricks and tiles. Taylor Wimpey initially eschewed this route, but in 2023 will open a timber frame facility in Peterborough to drive efficiencies and security of supply.
With chief executive Pete Redfern gone after 14 years at the helm, Taylor Wimpey has a new leader in the shape of Jennie Daly and strategies may start to change. The fundamentals of the housing market with supply outstripped by demand remain strong, but an expected fall of 5-8% in housing prices poses a problem, while build costs have increased at a similar rate. The group has signed the Government”s Building Safety Pledge for Developers and made an additional £80 million provision in 2022, taking total financial commitment to £245 million.
The forward order book at the end 2022 fell to £1,941 million (2021: £2,550 million). Going forward, completions are expected to fall by a third in 2023 to between 9,000 and 10,500 as Taylor Wimpey reduces construction but looks to protect profit margins to pacify investors on the stock exchange, who remain the group’s ultimate masters.
Winning Work With Taylor Wimpey Plc
Taylor Wimpey works regularly with suppliers on a regional level and maintains a list of approved suppliers and subcontractors and meets with national suppliers every three months. The group’s list of suppliers is regularly reviewed and consolidated to ensure an effective selection across all parts of its business.
Taylor Wimpey uses benchmarking determine commercial effectiveness where competition is limited or not available and maintains a list of approved suppliers and subcontractors. This list is regularly reviewed and consolidated to ensure an effective selection across all parts of the business.
Information on the group’s work with the Supply Chain Sustainability School can be found here. Suppliers or contractors that want to work for Taylor Wimpey can find more details here.
The group supply chain contact email is SupplyChain@taylorwimpey.com
Key Taylor Wimpey procurement contacts include:
Supply Chain Director – Nick Wright, tel: 01494-558323