Aberdeen’s “thriving” economy can help Scottish housebuilder Cala Group more than double its annual turnover between now and 2017, boss Alan Brown said yesterday.
Mr Brown, the firm’s chief executive, said the market for new homes in and around the Granite City remained buoyant.
He said continuing high levels of activity in the oil and gas industry were driving house prices beyond Cala’s average of £361,000 – up nearly 5% year-on-year for the seven months to January 31.
Cala expects its north and east Scotland operations, which currently include sites at Cults in Aberdeen and Foveran near Ellon, to double their total turnover by 2017.
New developments in affluent areas of south-east England are also predicted to catapult the group towards its overall growth target for annual turnover of more than £482million by 2017.
In a trading update yesterday, the firm announced the launch of two new regional divisions to complement its existing operations in the south of England.
Its new north Home Counties division is focused on Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and parts of London.
A southern Home Counties operation covers north Kent, West Sussex, East Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and other parts of London.
Cala, which is based in Edinburgh but has its roots in Aberdeen, said the UK housing market showed “tangible signs” of improvement last year and this had continued into 2014. Weekly sales from the beginning of July 2013 to the end of January were up 0.5% on average, compared with a year earlier, it added.
Mr Brown told the Press and Journal the growth had little to do with help-to-buy schemes and was more about economic recovery and the firm’s focus on affluent areas.
He added: “We are now investing significantly in new staff and top-quality sites in desirable locations in order to expand our regional footprint and firmly establish the Cala brand in new, high-growth markets.
“With a strengthened housing market and improving consumer confidence, our strategy during the first half of 2014 will be focused on increasing market share within the south-east of England, where demand for new homes is at its greatest.
“With the financial firepower that our new, blue-chip investors afford us, we are now able to develop land within our landbank at a faster rate than ever before, while identifying and securing the very best sites available.
“We continue to see positive organic growth within our west Scotland, east Scotland, north Scotland and Midlands businesses, which, when combined with our growth forecasts for the south-east, put us firmly on track to deliver our target to more than double the size of the business by 2017.”
Cala was acquired from Lloyds Banking Group by insurer Legal and General and private-equity firm Patron in a £210million deal last March.