Taylor Wimpey plc

Okay, good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. I'll start with some key areas of focus in trading and bring you up to date on what we're seeing before Chris takes you through the financials and capital allocation in more detail. I'll then return to cover the proactive actions that we're taking to protect margin and improve returns and the progress that we're making on executing the strategy we set out last year, which I think sets us up well for the current market. So as you're all aware, the housing market backdrop remains challenging. Underlying demand remains resilient, but customer confidence is subdued. So our focus in the first half and my key messages today is on controlling what we can. Sharp, disciplined execution and a relentless focus on improving return on capital. In other words, we are carefully managing the business to protect value now, while also preparing for a cyclical recovery. Our teams worked extremely hard to deliver these results and I'd like to thank them all and our subcontractors for their work and the commitment in the delivery. As I've said out here, the first priority is maintaining our tight grip on cost and we are navigating the current uncertainty with decisive costs and efficiency actions across the business. I'll come on to these in more detail later, but for now, I'd just like to pick out a couple of examples for you. Through tight WIP discipline, we are driving enhanced efficiency with WIP per outlet down 6% year on year, which as you know from October is in line with our plans. Our scale, rigorous approach and established partnerships have enabled us to identify further procurement efficiencies to offset some of the bill cost inflation through re-tenders, rebates and e-auctions. Our second priority is continuing to drive outlet growth. As you've heard me say many times, we've been proactive and assertive in our planning applications over several years to unlock the opportunity brought by the recent planning reform changes. And you will see the benefit of this as a key lever for future volume recovery. In the period, I'm pleased to say that average outlets increased by 6% year on year. and third, capital allocation. Our priority here continues to be maintaining a strong balance sheet to underpin our ability to deliver attractive returns through the cycle. You will have noted the change to shareholder returns this morning, revising our total payout to 4% of net asset value. Chris will take you through this shortly but there's no change to how we allocate capital but the housing market downturn has been more prolonged than anticipated and affordability pressures continue to affect demand and profitability expectations which remain lower than when the current distribution level was set. More recently, uncertainty arising from the events in the Middle East has added to an already challenging backdrop. Taken together, these factors have led the board to conclude that a lower level of annual distribution is appropriate for the current environment and will give us greater flexibility and resilience through the cycle. So despite the uncertain backdrop, on the whole, trading in the first half remained pretty resilient. I'm really pleased that during the period we made further progress on outlets, one of our key priorities, operating from an average of 219 outlets in the period and opening 39 new outlets compared with 32 in the first half of last year. Turning to sales, the first quarter was solid, though more subdued than the comparable period in 2025. However, from April, the market has been incrementally more challenging and uncertain given the conflict in the Middle East and also recent domestic political uncertainty. Our net private sales rate was 0.75 per outlet per week, about 5% lower than the 0.79 in the first half of last year, whilst bulk sales remained around the same level. Private average selling prices increased to 371,000, up from 350,000 in the first half of 2025, mainly to do with mix. The cancellation rate reduced to 14%. The order book, as at the 28th of June, stood at 1.9 billion, representing 6,882 homes. So looking at current trading, as you know, the summer is a traditionally slower season for sales, and this is only four weeks' worth of data. But you can see that the net private sales rate per site is running 7% down on the same period last year, 5% down, excluding bulk. Pricing, which has seen a gradual decline through the first half, has stabilised in more recent weeks. Customer behaviour is cautious and they are taking longer to make decisions. On a site-by-site basis, this means our focus is on driving more appointments and our regional teams are using targeted incentives where they genuinely support conversion. rather than taking a blanket approach. And I'll talk you through this a little bit more shortly. Affordable housing providers remain quite constrained in the Section 106 market, so securing affordable housing delivery remains challenging. We are in a good place for 2026 affordable completions, but with the flexibility introduced by the ministerial statement in January having a December 2027 delivery cut off, the challenge remains. We continue to press government for greater flexibility in type and tenure through cascade mechanisms to support the delivery of affordable housing. And with that I'll now pass over to Chris who will take you through the financial performance, cash flow and capital allocation in more detail.

Thanks Jenny. Good morning everyone. I'll start as normal with our first half financial performance before moving on to the balance sheet, how we're improving our capital efficiency, supporting cash flow and capital allocation, and then finish with our outlook and guidance for the remainder of the year. As Jenny's outlined, market conditions remain challenging through the first half. Against that backdrop, the group delivered a solid first half performance. Group revenue increased to £1.68 billion, supported by disciplined UK delivery, higher average selling prices and £32 million of land sales, partly offset by lower completions. Margins and profitability were impacted by the ongoing pressure from lower underlying pricing and build cost inflation. Gross profit was £254 million, down 10% year-on-year, with gross margin reducing by 200 basis points to 15.1%. The reduction in gross margin was the primary driver of lower earnings in the period. Adjusted operating profit was £130 million compared with £161 million last year, while adjusted operating margin also reduced by 200 basis points to 7.7%. Our balance sheet remained resilient with tangible net asset value per share broadly unchanged at 117 pence and return on net operating assets measured over the last 12 months also broadly stable at 10%. Turning to UK performance, UK completions excluding joint ventures were 4,723, down 3.5% compared to half one last year, but ahead of the first half weighting assumptions we outlined at the start of the year and updated at the AGM. Average selling price excluding joint ventures increased by 6.7% to £334,000. Private ASP increased by 6% and affordable ASP by 9%. Mix was the principal driver of these movements with a higher proportion of completions from the south and homes that were on average around 3% larger than last year and these factors were partially offset by lower underlying pricing reflecting ongoing market pressure. For the full year we now expect the blended UK average selling price to be around 1% ahead of last year with affordable homes contributing approximately 21% of completions. Joint venture completions increased to 88 with our share of joint venture profits contributing £4 million in the first half. We aren't expecting any net contribution in the second half and therefore guidance remains at £4 million of JV profit for the full year. UK gross profit margin was 14.4% down 180 basis points year on year which will be explained on the next slide. and this slide which will be familiar to you sets out the key drivers of the movement in UK adjusted operating profit margin versus half one last year. Overall margin reduced by 160 basis points. The largest driver was the net market impact of 280 basis points comprising around 110 basis points from lower selling prices and 170 basis points from bill cost inflation. Starting with pricing, performance was broadly in line with the trends that we've highlighted since January. Following modest softening through the spring selling season, particularly in the southern markets, pricing has been more stable in recent weeks. Overall, underlying pricing on half-won completions was around 1.5% below the prior year. Bill cost inflation in the half was 2.5%. We continue to challenge supplier cost increases robustly and leverage our scale and procurement initiatives to mitigate inflation. Conditions appeared to be easing during May and June and we were actively discussing the removal of certain surcharges with suppliers However, the subsequent increase in energy and fuel costs has slowed that progress and we now expect surcharges to remain in place for at least the next few months. Land Bank Evolution had no impact on the half one margin as the contribution from newer land offset the reduction in older, higher margin sites bought after the Brexit referendum. The 130 basis point positive movement reflects the absence of the 20 million charge for historical defective workmanship recorded in the prior year. Land and property sales reduced margin by 20 basis points and joint ventures provided a modest benefit. We remain firmly focused on the areas within our control. Build efficiency, cost discipline, procurement, WIP management and disciplined capital allocation, which I'll come on to shortly. Looking ahead to the second half, the margin outcome will continue to be shaped by the balance between pricing, build cost inflation and volume delivery. Underlying pricing is currently around 2% below prior year levels and has been stable in recent weeks. Bill cost inflation is expected to increase to around 3-4% for the full year, reflecting the factors I've just discussed. Accordingly, both pricing and bill costs are expected to remain headwinds in the second half. We will continue to focus relentlessly on procurement and cost discipline to mitigate those pressures wherever possible. Turning to the balance sheet, a key message from our October strategy update was that growth would come from unlocking value within our existing land bank rather than increasing investment. The £169 million reduction in land, net of land creditors, over the last 12 months demonstrates that approach in action. With all the land required for 2027 already owned, we remain focused on improving capital efficiency while supporting future growth. The quality of our land bank continues to reflect many years of disciplined investment and asset management. With a reported UK gross margin of 14.4% in the period, there remains plenty of embedded value across that portfolio. To give you some sense of this by way of illustration, our sensitivity analysis indicates that a further 5% reduction in prices today would result in an NRV charge of only around £30 million. Work in progress is in line with our expectations at this stage in the year, but remains higher than where we ultimately want it to be. It reflects the second half waiting of completions, investment to support new outlet openings, and certain legacy, more capital intensive sites. However, as I'll show you on the next slide, we are making good progress against the actions that we set out last October to normalize that position. Debtors at the half year were elevated principally due to deferred receipts on land sales and BTR deals and we expect that elevated position to unwind by the end of the year. Provisions have reduced over the last 12 months as cladding remediation works have progressed. There was no material change in the gross provision in the period with only minor movements for discounting and inflation. Spend in the first half was £36 million and we now expect around £100 million for the full year, lower than previous guidance due mainly to delays in securing approvals and building safety fund reimbursements. Importantly our expectation to complete all works in 2030 remains unchanged. Before moving on to cash and capital allocation, I wanted to briefly revisit the commitments we set out at our investor and analyst event last October around improving capital efficiency. As we said at the time, improving returns is not dependent on a recovery in the market. It is fundamentally about improving the efficiency with which we deploy capital across the business. Since October, we've continued to make tangible progress against the operational actions that underpin that strategy. We've improved WIP efficiency with WIP per outlet reducing by 6% year on year. We've continued to recycle capital from London apartment schemes and other infrastructure intensive investments, releasing capital for redeployment into higher turn opportunities. We've increased outlet numbers by 9% while maintaining a stable short-term land bank, demonstrating our ability to generate more selling outlets from our existing land position. were continuing to increase the proportion of smaller, more capital efficient sites entering the business, which supports higher output density, lower capital intensity, and improved asset turnover time. We've also reduced land bank years and lowered the capital tied up in land, further improving the efficiency of our capital base. I see this as encouraging early evidence that the actions that we set out last year are gaining traction with the business, responding to pace to improve efficiency. While the full benefits will take time to flow through into volumes and returns, the progress achieved demonstrates our focus on controlling the factors within our influence, despite a challenging market backdrop. The actions we're taking today continue to strengthen the business, laying the foundations for improved asset turn, stronger cash generation, and higher returns over the medium term. Having shown the progress that we've made against our capital efficiency commitments, this slide illustrates how that translated into cash generation and capital deployment during the first half. We started the year with net cash of £343 million and generated £130 million of cash from adjusted operating profit. Consistent with the disciplined approach we outlined in October, we've been highly selective on land approvals and land spend during the period resulting in a £49 million reduction in land investment. We also invested £108 million in work in progress consistent with the operational priorities and phasing discussed earlier. As a result, the business generated £52 million of cash from operations during the first half. After tax, shareholder distributions and other cash outflows, we closed the period with net cash of £169 million. The key takeaway is that we remain disciplined in how we allocate capital across the business. While the timing of cash generation will naturally vary between periods, our focus remains on improving capital efficiency, maintaining balance sheet strength and preserving the flexibility to deploy capital in line with our long-term priorities. Turning to capital allocation, first of all, by way of context, there is no change to the strategy we set out at our investor and analyst event last October, and no change to the capital allocation framework that underpins it. Our priorities remain straightforward and consistent. First, we maintain a strong balance sheet appropriate for the cyclical nature of the industry. Second, we invest selectively in land and work in progress for growth and long-term value creation, noting our clear focus on driving improved capital efficiency. Third, we understand the importance of cash returns to our shareholders and remain committed to delivering attractive returns through the cycle. And finally, where capital is genuinely surplus to the needs of the business, we return that excess cash to shareholders. Those priorities remain unchanged. However, given the prolonged housing market downturn, and in particular the continuing uncertainty in the macroeconomic and political environment in which we are operating, the Board has determined it is now prudent to reassess the level of cash returns we are making. As you will have seen in this morning's announcement, we're updating our distribution policy from a total annual return equivalent to 7.5% of nest assets to 4% of nest assets. Before turning to the mechanism, I'd like to explain the basis for the board's decision. Whilst we're making good progress against our operational priorities, the current cycle is seeing a more prolonged downturn than we anticipated, exacerbated by the crisis in the Middle East. Consistent with our long-standing priority of maintaining a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility, the Board has concluded that a distribution level equivalent to 4% of net assets is the appropriate basis for shareholder returns going forward. This will comprise an annual ordinary dividend equivalent to 2% of net assets, supplemented by a further return of 2% of net assets by way of incremental dividends or share buybacks. Cash dividends remain an important element of shareholder returns, but at current valuation levels we see significant merit in complementing them with share buybacks. Overall, we believe this approach strikes the right balance between delivering attractive shareholder returns, maintaining confidence in the sustainability of distributions, and preserving financial flexibility in a less supportive market environment. Before turning to guidance, I just want to reiterate some of Jenny's comments about what we are seeing in current trading. Whilst underlying demand for new homes is robust, affordability remains stretched in a number of markets and customers continue to take a measured approach to purchasing decisions, which is reflected in the lower sales rate that we saw in the first half. Accordingly, we expect the headwinds from both pricing and cost that we experienced in half one to persist through the second half. While underlying pricing has been broadly stable in recent weeks, it remains on average approximately 2% below prior levels. At the same time, we anticipate bill cost inflation on completions will increase to around 3-4% for the full year, given the continuing pressure from energy and fuel-related costs. Conditions also continue to vary across the country with the south generally experience a more challenging backdrop than other regions given affordability pressures and a greater reliance on discretionary movers. So pulling this together, we're adjusting our guidance for UK completions this year to a range of 10,600 to 10,800 homes, which is the lower half of the range we provided in March. We expect blended UK average selling prices for the full year to be around 1% higher than last year, driven by mix and assuming an affordable share of approximately 21%. However, as noted earlier, we expect further pressure from underlying pricing, which is currently running at 2% down year on year compared to 1.5% in half one. Bill cost inflation, as I called out earlier, is expected to increase from 2.5% in the first half to around 3% to 4% for the full year. Group net operating expenses were 128 million in half one and will be at a similar level in half two. We don't expect any net contribution from JVs in the second half and therefore guidance remains at four million of JV profit for the full year. Net finance costs are expected to be around 25 million pounds, five million less than previous guidance. Net cash is expected to improve during the second half, increasing from £169 million reported at the half year to around £250 million at the year end, assuming approximately £100 million of cladding related cash outflows during the year. So in conclusion, the market remains challenging, but our priorities are clear. We're focused on disciplined execution, improving capital efficiency, maintaining balance sheet strength, and allocating capital responsibly. Those actions position us well to navigate current market conditions while continuing to execute against our strategy and create value for shareholders over the longer term. I'll hand you back to Jenny.

Thanks Chris. So I'll now turn to how we're managing the current uncertainty and how we're positioning the business to protect value now while preparing for a cyclical recovery over the medium term. So let me first step back and just put the current environment in context, looking at both demand and supply. On demand, sentiment, confidence and affordability continue to be affected by the global and domestic backdrop. So while there continues to be very high underlying demand, effective demand has been weakened. It's not all bad news as the consumer has proved pretty resilient and continues to transact, albeit they're very value focused. Mortgage availability remains good and lenders remain committed to the market. On supply, there's been a little disruption due to the local elections but despite this we've been able to drive continued planning momentum and are pleased to see positive progress with planning and continuing commitment to positive determinations, especially by planning officers. There have also been some positive policy measures from government off the back of the Planning and Infrastructure Act, although we await the formal introduction of the National Scheme of Delegation and await the MPPF redraft which is now expected in September. Bill Cost is facing increased pressure because of knock-on energy surcharges, particularly in materials, and mitigation is a key focus for the business, which I'll come on to in a moment. The labour side has been more stable and there's good capacity in the industry, though there are some signs of financial stress. We've spoken previously to you about the cumulative impact of regulation. The HBF recently estimated that these factors together with the underlying bill cost inflation have added approximately £76,000 to the cost of delivering a new home since 2020. In London the figure is closer to £98,000. These additional costs are now visibly impacting the viability of new sites especially in areas of lower ASP or where underlying growing conditions or infrastructure demands or section 106 agreement requirements are overweight. This subject remains one we raise regularly in our engagement with government and we will continue to do so. It's particularly important given the recognised economic multiplier effect of new house building as well as the scale of the opportunity and job creation our sector brings to local communities and the support it provides for the wider supply chain. So the environment's not a straightforward one but it is one we understand and we are sharply focused on the areas we can control. From a customer's perspective, affordability remains the key challenge to overcome, as it has been for some time, particularly for the south and for first-time buyers. We're responding by helping customers navigate affordability through tailored incentives and our summer campaign, Your Home, Your Budget, Your Way, helps our customers understand the support available and to see a route through to home ownership. We continue to generate a healthy level of site activity with a good number of appointments although customers remain cautious. More visits are needed prior to reservation and as a result time to reservation is taking longer. All in all I'd characterize it as a buyer's market out there with listing levels near 12-year highs for this time of year according to Rightmove. Our approach over the last couple of years, as you'll know, has been to prioritise high quality leads as opposed to overall traffic, up weighting investment in the channels we have assessed as delivering this objective. We're applying an increasingly more systematic approach to sales, leveraging our customer database, using targeted media spend to drive higher quality leads and applying incentives in a disciplined way to support conversion. This is having a positive effect in driving customers to book appointments predominantly through our website, with website appointments up 13% per outlet year on year. Overall, when we include all types of appointments, so that includes walk-ins and appointments booked by our sales executives directly, then they're also up year on year in absolute terms. However, on a per outlet basis, the picture is pretty stable. Tight operational discipline and cost management are business as usual at Taylor Wimpey but here I want to give you a sense of what we're doing to drive this even further throughout the business. I'm really pleased with how the business has responded and I have a few examples to share with you this morning. Firstly we're applying the lessons that we learned in the 2022-23 energy price shock and have been quick to respond even before the cost pressure emerged. That included a surcharge model, forensic input scrutiny to challenge increases, seeking substitutions where appropriate and using procurement scale to mitigate the impact and of course through our partnership negotiations. A second example is how we've been actively preparing for the building safety levy which is expected to come into effect from the 1st of October this year in relation to both new and existing land assets. Through considered action, so in effect the submission of new initial notices for existing and pipeline sites, we've been able to mitigate these costs ensuring that sites will not be liable for building safety payments until 2029. We are implementing tangible and deliverable savings through our value improvement programme. And these aren't theoretical initiatives, they're site level actions that can be delivered quickly. So for example, as you know, taxation for landfill increased last year and we're therefore driving savings in site waste and disposal costs using the Nexus Regen digital materials exchange platform to identify reuse opportunities across our own national network. This is delivering meaningful savings on waste disposal costs as well as enhancing our sustainability. We're working proactively with 15 key partners in high value areas to identify new opportunities to drive value. So for example rationalisation and change of white good providers aligned with customer research. Individually the improvement is incremental but overall it is meaningful and importantly embedded in our mindset with the team driving operational excellence and a cost focus which is now considered business as usual. and finally we're continuing to increase delivery from the standard house type range into standardised products and processes so that each improvement is repeatable across the business, levering cost and efficiency benefits. So that's just a flavour of some of the core initiatives underway. We are relentlessly seeking ways to improve the cost base of the business and will continue to do so over the coming months. So turning now to the actions that allow us to unlock value from the existing land bank and underpin future growth. We've continued to stoke the planning momentum we've created and we currently have around 32,000 plots in planning for first principle determination and there are 11,000 plots targeted for assertive planning application submission over the remainder of 2026 and that's over and above our business as usual activity. We converted around 3,000 plots from the strategic pipeline in the first half compared to around 1,000 in the first half of last year showing some improvement on delivery as expected. We also achieved a 72% increase in detailed planning permissions in the first half compared to the first half in 2025. And importantly, we own all the land required for 2027 completions, over 97% of which have detailed planning permission. The quality of our land bank has allowed us to be highly selective and in the first half we approved around 3,000 new plots. In terms of the current land market, though we remain highly selective, we are seeing a modestly improving pipeline albeit from a fairly low level of activity. Where there are realistic landowners, there are some deals to be done and our financial resilience and market positioning means that we are well placed to benefit. The focus on smaller, more capital efficient sites with lower planning and technical risk aligns with our commitment to drive capital efficiency. And in the first half, the average site approved was 166 plots and you can see on the graph here how that has moved over time. Together with planning permissions unlocking value from the existing land bank, smaller sites will support outlet growth without the need for new net land investment. I'm really pleased that despite the backdrop, we remain on track to open more outlets this year compared to last year and continue to expect higher average outlets in 2026 than in 2025. To summarise then, we're firmly focused on the areas that we can control including outlet growth, cost and improving return on capital and I'm pleased to see the progress being made across these measures. We continue to support the government's housing ambition and if we are to unlock delivery at scale, targeted action is needed to support both demand and viability. and we're committed to disciplined capital allocation in line with our long-established capital allocation framework which demonstrates our commitment to the priorities of managing a strong balance sheet, disciplined investment in the business and a commitment to returns for shareholders. So thank you and with that we'll now open up for questions.