Henry Boot sees revenue grow but profits decline in uncertain housing market

• Revenue up by 24.5% year-on-year to £179.8m in first half results 
• But underlying profits were down to £23.3m over the same time period

By Daniel Fessahaye

Updated: 09:11 EDT, 19 September 2023

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BUSINESS LIVE: Berkeley’s housing market woes; CMA backs aviation watchdog; TRG chair to step down

By Live Commentary

Updated: 08:13 EDT, 8 September 2023

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Protesters in Ireland have blocked access to holiday homes being used to house migrants, claiming the asylum seekers were being moved there ‘underhandedly’ and citing fire safety and sewage management concerns.

A group of 34 asylum seekers was accommodated at three holiday homes on the site of Magowna House Hotel in Inch yesterday evening.

However, access roads to the site were then blocked by local protesters using tractors with another gate blocked by a silage bail.

Today some asylum seekers expressed fear over the ongoing situation, while one of the drivers of the tractors, who did not want to provide his name, said locals had concerns about fire safety and sewage management on the site.

He said they expected another bus to arrive and that the asylum seekers were being moved ‘underhandedly’.

‘So we stopped the roads, we blocked the roads so a second bus could not get in.’

He said this was because there would be ’70 people in this locality with nowhere to go’, and questioned how the asylum seekers would integrate into the community.

Four asylum seekers have decided to leave the accommodation amid the protests. 

Protesters said they would not prevent an asylum seeker from leaving, and those blocking access to the site have allowed some members of the media through and said they would allow food deliveries.

Minister of state for community development Joe O’Brien said the hotel did not have a fire safety certificate but there was no issue with fire safety or wastewater management at the holiday homes.

‘I just ask people to step down the blockade, I think it is done on the basis of a misunderstanding of what’s happened,’ he said.

Mr O’Brien said there is ongoing work at the hotel and people would not be accommodated there until it is safe.

He added that there are 500 asylum seekers without accommodation and the Government is ‘looking at every possible angle and every possible case’.

On concerns about the isolated location of the holiday homes, Mr O’Brien told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne that a shuttle bus would be provided to Ennis for asylum seekers who wanted to access services there.

There were tense exchanges outside the centre with some asylum seekers wanting to leave over concerns for their safety and lack of satisfaction with the accommodation.

Some asylum seekers took their belongings and left them outside in preparation for leaving, while others said they were happy to stay.

Sultan Muhammad, from Afghanistan, said he came to Ireland five months ago and had been staying in Citywest in Dublin.

He described the situation Co Clare as ‘difficult’ but said the accommodation was ‘okay’.

‘We are feeling good here. I like this place. I like it, I will live here.’

A Fianna Fail TD for Clare said there has been a lack of information about the accommodation of asylum seekers at the site and ‘someone has put the cart before the horse’.

Last year, Clare county council decided Magowna House in Inch was unsuitable for accommodation for Ukrainian refugees, he said.

‘Magowna House could not be used.

‘It wasn’t fit for purpose last night so they’re crammed into ancillary buildings on the site and I just think someone has put the cart before the horse here,’ Mr Crowe told RTE’s Morning Ireland.

‘I would take the view that if you’re going to bring people to a facility, it should be safe, it should be a sanitary environment.

‘It’s questionable if Magowna House is at that level yet.’

Mr Crowe said he hopes to meet with the minister for equality and integration Roderic O’Gorman this afternoon.

He said the protesters are ‘entitled to their concerns’.

He said he visited the hotel earlier that day and saw it being fitted with beds.

‘I went out because there was a lack of information and my office was being bombarded with emails and phone calls,’ he said.

‘We did get a briefing note from the Department late on Thursday but there was still a lot of stuff I couldn’t answer.

‘It [the briefing note] related to the mechanics of the situation: that there would be a contract between the department and the owner, that it would initially be for a 12-month duration, that there would be a manager on site, that meals would be cooked on site and that it would be for men in the international protection system.’

Marshalls sank into the red after the patios and driveways specialist suffered a bleak start to the year.

The FTSE 250 landscaping group said fewer homes are being built in the wake of the disastrous mini-Budget in September last year.

It also pointed towards increased mortgage costs as the Bank of England hikes interest rates as well as the end of the Help to Buy scheme. 

At the same time, Marshalls said households were not spending as much doing up their homes and gardens as they did during the pandemic when business boomed.

As such, sales in the first four months of 2023 were 14 per cent lower than in the same period last year.

And in a further blow, Marshalls warned its full-year results were likely to be lower than expected.

The Yorkshire-based firm is planning to axe 70 jobs in a bid to save money. Shares in the company, which were trading above £8 each during the pandemic, fell 8.7 per cent, or 26p, to 272p.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent, or 14.29 points, to 7764.09 and the FTSE 250 dropped 0.9 per cent, or 175.46 points, to 19277.04.

Official data out of China was a mixed bag as the world’s second largest economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year. But imports fell 7.9 per cent year-on-year in April while export growth slowed.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the ‘numbers are yet another warning light that China is far from immune from the global slowdown’.

Investors had much to digest closer to home.

Figures from Halifax showed house prices rising at the slowest pace for more than a decade as rising interest rates take their toll.

Shares in builder Persimmon slid 2.3 per cent, or 32p, to 1335.5p, Berkeley Group shed 2.2 per cent, or 98p, to 4368p and Taylor Wimpey fell 1.6 per cent, or 1.95p, to 124.1p.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: ‘Many potential buyers are holding off amid hopes that property prices will cool and mortgage rates will ease later this year as inflation finally starts to come down.’

Direct Line warned its earnings could come under pressure this year due to the rising cost of repairing damaged cars.

Motor insurers have been hit by the rising price of second-hand cars and parts as well as higher labour costs. Shares plunged 4.6 per cent, or 7.55p, to 156.8p

The chief executive of DCC is to step down temporarily for health reasons. Donal Murphy, who has led the Irish conglomerate since July 2017, will ‘address a medical condition’ and hand over his day-to-day responsibilities for the next few weeks to the finance boss Kevin Lucey.

He hopes to return to working as normal before the annual general meeting in July, DCC added.

Shares fell 3.1 per cent, or 151p, to 4714p. Ingredients maker Treatt highlighted the reopening of China as it posted record half-year revenues. 

Sales shot up 14.6 per cent to £76million in the six months to the end of March while profit rose 15 per cent to £7.3million. 

Revenue across China – which it said remains an ‘important strategic region’ – soared by 38.6 per cent during the period as Covid measures were lifted. But shares fell 2.1 per cent, or 14p, to 650p.

TT Electronics said revenue in the first four months of 2023 was 16 per cent higher than the same period a year ago. Shares in the electronic components manufacturer inched up 1.1 per cent, or 1.8p, to 171.6p.

Victrex saw sales of polymer slide 14 per cent to 1,941 tonnes in the six months to the end of March. 

Profit fell 10 per cent to £39.1million due to weaker demand, a higher wage bill and an increase in investment. Shares fell 9.6 per cent, or 160p, to 1504p.