MJ Gleeson Group on Friday reported a 65 per cent increase in sales of homes in the UK during the last half of 2012 despite a tough housing market.

In a trading update ahead of its half year results ended December 31st, the company said its unit Gleeson Homes made £33.2m in the sales of reserved, contracted and completed homes.

It sold 164 private development homes during the period, an increase of 53% compared with the previous year's total of 107.

With the inclusion of units sold to Housing Associations, sales for the period totalled 165 homes, compared to 130 in 2011.

The UK Government's FirstBuy scheme, which provides support to first-time buyers by way of a 20% equity loan, helped boost business.

Gleeson recently secured an additional £2.0m in funding from the scheme, which will assist about 170 first time buyers.

Another factor driving sales was demand for green field residential land in the South of England from the major housebuilders.

During the period its division Gleeson Strategic Land sold three sites, with a combined acreage of 13 acres.

Planning permission was also achieved on a 133-unit site at Grove, Oxfordshire and an 18-unit site at Hunston, West Sussex. The sites will be marketed for sale in 2013.

Jolyon Harrison, Chief Executive, said: "The performance in the first half of the financial year of both Gleeson Homes and Gleeson Strategic Land is encouraging, with profits expected to be significantly ahead of last year.

"The housing market remains challenging. The group, however, remains on track to deliver a strong and sustained improvement in its performance."


Brewin Dolphin Holdings, one of Britain's largest investment and financial planning firms, reported a 36.5 per cent hike in profits in its annual report released Friday.

The FTSE 250 company's profit before tax stood at £29.9m for the year end September 30th, up from £21.9m in the comparative period.

Total income increased 2.1% to £269.5m and total managed funds climbed 7.9% to £25.9bn.

Business was bolstered by company expansion with a new branch in Ipswich and additional teams in Birmingham, Jersey, Bristol, London, Newcastle and Dublin.

The firm said it was also helped by the fact the investment management market was a growing sector, competition was relatively fragmented and price competition was low.

However, it said regulation continued to set back businesses in the financial sector in the UK and overseas.

In particular, the company was working to ensure it was ready to meet the demands of the UK financial regulation's Retail Distribution Review which came into force this month.

"Our investment managers and financial planners have continued to provide an excellent service to our clients during another year that has seen much strategic and regulatory change," Group Managing Director, Henry Algeo, said.

"We as a group remain determined to continue to provide an outstanding bespoke investment management service for our clients."

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