Barratt Redrow’s H1 results have been described as "mixed" by Hargreaves Lansdown, as the housebuilder’s revenue increased by 10.5% to £2.6bn in the six months to 28 December.

Its total home completions in this period rose by 4.7% year-on-year to 7,444, demonstrating a "resilient operational performance", the firm stated.

However, its operating profit fell marginally by 0.3% to £210.2m, while its profit before tax dropped by 13.6% to £199.9m.

Despite this, the housebuilder said the Redrow integration is progressing well, delivering in line with its £100m cost synergy target, with strong progress on revenue synergy sites through planning.

Its underlying net private reservation rate stood at 0.55 reservations per week in this period, compared to 0.54 in the previous year, although its overall net private reservation rate dropped from 0.59 to 0.57 during this time, reflecting fewer private rental sector and other multi-unit

Furthermore, it described its balance sheet as "strong", with net cash in the period totalling £173.9m after dividends and share buybacks.

Chief executive at Barratt Redrow, David Thomas, said: "During the first half we delivered a resilient performance in a subdued market while making strong progress integrating Redrow. As that integration nears completion, our focus is on disciplined execution.

"With a strong land bank, solid forward sales and synergy delivery in line with our targets, we are well positioned to deliver sustainable medium-term growth. However, while progress made on planning reform is encouraging, a stable and supportive demand environment is essential to enable increased delivery at scale across the sector."

In Barratt Redrow’s trading to 1 February, its forward sales stood at 11,168 homes, marking a 2.4% year-on-year increase, with a value of £3.4bn.

It stated that its full-year turnout remains dependent on sales activity through the Spring selling season, but it expects to deliver between 17,200 to 17,800 total home completions in the current financial year, which is in line with previous guidance.

The group's full-year profit before tax is also on track to meet consensus expectations, in a range of between £558m and £617m.

Shares in Barratt Redrow dropped by over 5% following the publication of its H1 results and in the past year, the housebuilder’s share price has fallen by over 15%.

Equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Aarin Chiekrie, described the results as "mixed", but said that there’s hope that momentum can pick up going forward.

He concluded: "Sales rates only dipped slightly over the period, despite rising uncertainty ahead of the UK Budget back in November. The order book and average selling price have both been trending higher. But that was in part down to Barratt's increased use of incentives to convince buyers to sign on the dotted line for a new home.

"With the Budget hurdle now out of the way, the picture moving forward is a touch more favourable. The market’s currently forecasting two rate cuts by the end of 2026, which should help buoy buyers’ purchasing power slightly. The Redrow merger is also bringing a host of cost benefits as overlapping operations are streamlined, and the group’s enlarged scale is allowing it to negotiate harder on prices with suppliers.

"Ramping up construction to its medium-term target of 22,000 new homes annually could take a while to reach, and relies on demand picking up materially, which is largely out of the group’s control."

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