Profits top £3m for Inverness housebuilder Tulloch Homes Group
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INVERNESS housebuilder Tulloch Homes Group returned a profit of £3.3 million last year.
This is despite activities in the final quarter of the accounting year ending June 30, 2020 being severely hampered by Covid-19 restrictions.
The company’s annual report also revealed that total turnover for the year was £32.2 million, down from £51.1 million in the previous 12 months.
Tulloch Homes has 1217 homes with planning consent, down from 1320 units last year, with a further 474 units contracted in the Highlands. In the last year it has sold 136 homes, down from the 2019 total of 211 – which the company attributes to the effects of the pandemic.
At the end of June 2020 the group had net assets of £63.5 million, up from £60.2 million, and a net cash balance of £32.5 million, increased from £21 million.
The substantial reduction in pre-tax profit from £8.8 million in 2019 is explained fully by the Covid-19 lockdown’s impact on housebuilding construction and sales, chief executive George Fraser said.
“The year ended June 30, 2020 was an incredibly challenging period for everyone with the impact of Covid-19 felt globally,” he commented.
“In the period up to the point where the country entered lockdown, we had been trading in line with expectations and it was anticipated financial targets would be met for the year.
“There was little activity from lockdown to the year end as a result of restrictions placed on all UK businesses by both governments. The year ended June 30, 2020 was therefore a very truncated period. This is reflected in our results.”
However, construction activity had been able to resume on all Tulloch’s sites later in the year and buyer interest had been robust, he added, although he also cautioned it was too early to forecast if this recovery will be sustained.
Mr Fraser added: “We’re proud to be a company that contributes to local prosperity, employing 152 people and supporting around 600 jobs when our sub-contractors are taken into account.
“We feel there is responsibility on us, in the circumstances of the pandemic, to provide work and retain jobs.”
