Taylor Wimpey Remain Positive Despite Decreased Buyer Confidence

Taylor Wimpey, the UK's largest house-builder, expects to meet financial expectations despite decreased buyer confidence in the last six months in both the UK and US.

Following the merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in July last year the company have maintained a strong UK landbank with a good balance between both current and strategic sites. At the year end Taylor Wimpey had detailed planning for 42,460 owned plots - that's a 594 increase on 2006.


However in a trading update the company has warned of difficult times ahead: "In the UK, we anticipate a subdued start to the Spring selling season with interest rates and mortgage availability being key determinants of customer confidence."

Long term the company intend to make strong progress on integration which will assist their drive for relative margin improvement, which will remain "a priority over volume".

Taylor Wimpey are not expecting market conditions in the US to improve during 2008 their strategy remains to focus on recovering cash from existing sites, reducing the cost base, and achieving a steady sales rate.

(GK)