Interim turnaround at Wren Homes

Retirement homes and specialist developer Wren Homes has turned a £176,000 loss into a £245,504 first-half pre-tax profit.

Wren, which specialises in flats for the ‘active’ retirement market around the southern M25 corridor, saw turnover in the six months to January fall from £1.2 million to £477,500. This represents a profit-share deal at Wren Court in Warlingham, Surrey, where Wren sold the land in January 2005 and acted as developer, retaining a ‘substantial interest’ on the profit on the flats.

The company, which has announced a maiden interim dividend of 0.25p per share and had £1.5 million cash at the end of January, says it has recently obtained planning permission for 20 retirement flats in Carshalton and will ‘shortly’ complete the land purchase for the project. Wren hopes to complete its development of non-retirement flats at Kenley around July.

Shares in Wren, recommended by Growth Company Investor in October at 32.5p, have reached 69.5p, down 2p today, valuing the company at £28 million. Partial profit-taking might be prudent, but it is worth holding some for future longer-term potential.