The Lemon Fool

Trading statement for the year ended 31 December 2018


Taylor Wimpey is issuing the following update on trading ahead of its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2018, which will be announced on 27 February 2019.

Overview

Pete Redfern, Chief Executive, commented:

"I am pleased to report another year of strong performance, in line with our expectations. Despite wider macroeconomic uncertainty, the housing market remained stable during 2018 and we had a good trading performance. We are continuing to deliver against our strategy and ended the year in a positive position, underpinned by our strong order book and balance sheet.

As we enter 2019, we maintain our guidance for stable volumes although are mindful of market sensitivity. We are confident that our focused strategy of managing the business through the cycle and driving further operational improvements will enable us to continue to deliver a high-quality product and service to our customers, long term value for shareholders and growth into 2020."

The FTSE 100 is absolutely jam-packed with riddles and conundrums that I just can’t get my head around, but one of the biggest things that befuddles me is quite why the country’s homebuilders trade on such low valuations.

Look, I’m not blind to the political and economic uncertainty created by Brexit, the atomic elephant in the room that threatens to deliver a hammer blow to the domestic housing market. Indeed, the Bank of England famously predicted that property prices could collapse by more than a third within three years of the UK leaving the European Union with no deal.

I have long argued, though, that the chances of the country leaving without a deal are remote, a belief that has been reinforced by fresh wranglings in Westminster in the run-up to next week’s planned meaningful vote on Brexit. And therefore the rock-bottom valuations of some of the biggest listed construction stocks is hard to justify.

More strong trading news

Take Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW), for example, a share which I myself own and which has long changed hands on a forward P/E ratio well below the broadly-accepted bargain benchmark of 10 times or below.