Taylor Wimpey: Construction jumps but cladding costs wipe out profit
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey posted a double-digit rise in housing completions, but a £222.2m hit from fixing combustible cladding pushed the company to a half-year loss.
Shares fell nearly five per cent in early morning trades.
The number of houses built in the first half of 2025 totalled 5,264, up from 4,728 last year, the company told markets this morning.
Revenue rose nine per cent to £1.65bn, with “robust” trading in the first quarter followed by softer trading in the second.
However, Taylor Wimpey recorded a loss before tax of £92m, turning around a £99m profit last year.
This was largely down to an increase in the company’s fire safety provision to £222.2 million after a reassessment of its risk exposure on getting building up to a fire-safe standard post-Grenfell.
“We have long maintained that leaseholders should not bear the cost of fire safety remediation, and our focus has always been on ensuring that residents in Taylor Wimpey buildings have a clear path to resolution,” the company said.
The Grenfell disaster in 2017, which led to 72 deaths, resulted in a seven-year inquiry and uncovered “substantial and widespread failings” in the construction sector and its regulation.
The severity of the disaster was down to combustible materials used in the cladding and insulation of the building.
Wimpey took another £15.8m after an investigation by the UK’s competition watchdog into the anti-competitive practices of seven housing developers.
The Competition and Markets Authority probe resulted in an agreement with the housebuilders for a £100m “package of commitments”, which will be used to address the CMA’s competition concerns. The developers have not admitted to market manipulation.
Jennie Daly, Chief Executive, said: “We delivered a good underlying performance in the first half of 2025 in line with our expectations, notwithstanding softer market conditions in the second quarter.
While affordability remains constrained, particularly amongst first-time buyers, lenders remain committed to the UK mortgage market and long term fundamentals are positive, with significant unmet need for UK housing.
The safety of our customers remains our highest priority – this principle has consistently guided our approach, and we have increased our cladding fire safety provision to reflect findings from updated fire risk assessments and investigations in the first half.”
Taylor Wimpey reiterated its guidance for full year UK completions of between 10,400 to 10,800, with operating profit for 2025 now expected to be £424m.