Building company Wates, which is working with Yorkshire Building Society, posts record £2.18bn turnover

The company also ended the financial year with a record forward order book of £8.54bn.

Wates made significant investments during the year, resulting in a lower net cash position than in 2022, of £138m. This included continued investment in its house building joint ventures portfolio.

The group’s £90m revolving credit facility remained undrawn at the year-end. The company also increased its total tax take on behalf of the Exchequer to £387m – a 23 per cent increase on last year.

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Eoghan O’Lionaird, chief executive, Wates Group, said: “We are in an excellent position, with profitability across all parts of our business, a solid cash balance and a positive tangible net worth.

"Our record forward order book demonstrates our customers’ confidence in our ability to deliver projects of all types and sizes. This confidence is hard-earned, with Wates delivering profit before tax every year for more than two decades.”

During the year, the group also reached two of its 2025 social value targets ahead of schedule. The group’s strategic spending with social enterprises, which multiply the company’s impact in communities where it operates, reached £31m since 2020, exceeding the original 2025 target of £25m.

Wates also surpassed its 2025 target for engagement with the sector’s future skills pipeline, supporting 80,000 young people in primary and secondary schools to consider a construction career since 2020, against an original target of 25,000.

Meanwhile, the group reduced its scope one and two emissions by 45.3 per cent against a 2019 baseline. This compares with its near-term (2030) science-based target of 46.2 per cent. The group also had its long-term (2045) greenhouse gas emissions target validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and, at the end of 2023, appointed Cressida Curtis to the new role of group sustainability director.