Builder sees first signs of recovery.HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey Taylor Wimpey plc (LSE: TW.) (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is the largest British based house building and general construction company and the fifth largest in the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. has said the UK housing market should avoid a "severe" downturn, as recent signs gave hope of a recovery. The group said prices were now broadly flat, while its forward order book had soared 73% since the year end to pounds 971m as buyers returned to the market. Cancellation rates were below the long-run average and it is hoping to see an increase in selling prices over the second half of the year after keeping a tight control on its stock of unsold homes. "Whilst wider economic conditions remain weak and rising unemployment could still have an effect on our markets, the severe downside scenarios for which we have been planning now appear less likely," said Taylor. It added that despite some ongoing difficulties with mortgage availability and valuations, "there are signs that the situation is beginning to improve". Taylor - which recently raised pounds 510m in an investor cash-call - said it was considering land-buying opportunities to snap up cheap offers beginning to emerge. It also signalled plans to begin new building projects again, with hopes to increase the number of site outlets in the second half if conditions remain stable into the autumn. Shares soared more than 8% after the cheery cheer·y adj. cheer·i·er, cheer·i·est Showing or suggesting good spirits; cheerful: a cheery hello. cheer update on the property market, which comes as the company itself begins to turn the corner. It recently completed a long-running refinancing of the business, with the rights issue also helping bolster its balance sheet and offer legroom leg·room n. Room in which to stretch the legs while seated. legroom Noun space to move one's legs comfortably, as in a car legroom n → to make opportunistic opportunistic /op·por·tu·nis·tic/ (op?er-tldbomacn-is´tik) 1. denoting a microorganism which does not ordinarily cause disease but becomes pathogenic under certain circumstances. 2. land purchases. The firm had been struggling under a pounds 1.68bn debt pile, but approval from bondholders in late April completed the funding jigsaw A Web server from the W3C that incorporates advanced features and uses a modular design similar to the Apache Web server. Jigsaw supports HTTP 1.1 and provided an experimental platform for HTTP-NG. See HTTP-NG and Amaya. and left it with bank facilities totalling pounds 2.47bn. Taylor confirmed yesterday it had also paid down debts to just over pounds 1bn, with further reductions due by the end of the year. The group said its US arm has also been seeing better trading, with improvements in reservations and cancellations since the end of April. Solihull-headquartered Taylor - formed through the merger of George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow in 2007 - is set to report half-year figures on August 5.. |
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