Cairn Homes, an Irish property developer, has disclosed plans for a €45 million stock repurchasing programme and will declare a 3.8 cent provisional dividend for each common share at its interim results unveiling on September 4th. This latest endeavour combines a fresh €40 million scheme and the leftover €5 million leg of the previous year’s plan, which is set to kick off immediately.
Cairn reported that in the first half of 2024, it had completed 894 housing sales, pulling in a return of €365 million – a significant 66% surge in income compared to the previous year. The company’s firm and forward order books experienced growth, encompassing roughly 3,100 new houses with an approximate sales value of just under €1.2 billion.
The State’s Land Development Agency has included Cairn in its consortium builder framework project, Project Tosaigh 2, which pledges to supply 5,000 inexpensive homes in the coming years. The firm has also formed a partnership with Home Building Finance Ireland, a fourth lender contributing to its extended €327.5 million sustainability-linked syndicate facility.
Cairn reconfirmed its annual projections of 2,200 properties, an operational profit of €145 million, and a return on equity of 15 per cent. CEO Michael Stanley, in a statement on the H1 2024 business update, said that sales of first-time buyer homes in the spring had been robust, bolstering the existing 3,000 homes order book, and the company intended to escalate output by 30 per cent this year, with a particular heavy investment in 10 new projects, eight of which would roll out in the latter half of 2024.
Stanley also remarked that the plight of the rental market posed a significant challenge to Ireland’s economy and burgeoning population. The past few years had seen over 70,000 homes, formerly available for private rent, go off the market, primarily as homebuyers bought out smaller landlords. The availability of replacement stock, particularly urban apartments, funded privately, had dramatically reduced, leading to an ever-shrinking rental market for Ireland’s young and employed adults.
The government’s “stronger support” for new cost rental apartment developments, noted by Stanley, could significantly improve the delivery of affordable and privately-major apartment developments, for both renting and ownership.
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