Henry Boot – property boss who complains it is now quicker to develop than to get planning permissions, looks for 10% greater sales this year, Interims tomorrow, shares 214p, TP 317p
- Mark Watson-Mitchell
- Sep 22
- 4 min read
Mark Watson-Mitchell - 22.09.2025
“From land promotion and property development investment to home-building, construction and plant hire, Henry Boot is where great places start…
We aim to create sustainable and long-term value in real estate growing our capital employed to £500m, generating a ROCE of between 10-15%.”
Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 23rd September, will see the £286m-capitalised Henry Boot (LON:BOOT) announce its Interim Results for the half year to end-June.
The company's activities include land, property development, home building, and construction.
Last Friday there were some 1,395,236 shares traded in the group’s equity, over 11 times the average daily dealing volume, closing down nearly 3% at 214p each – is that something of a pointer ahead of the Interims being declared?
Planning Permission Delays
From its Sheffield base, Henry Boot has been building since 1886 - and by 1914 its founder was using his six trucks and 20 horse-drawn carts to deliver government contracts to support the war effort, building army barracks, aerodromes and sea-plane bases.
His son Charles, who built Pinewood Studios in the 1930s, and the generations that succeeded him must now be turning in their graves because the planning system today is more dysfunctional than at any time in history.
Tim Roberts, who is the Chief Executive of Henry Boot, states that seeking Planning Permission now takes longer than actually building out a development.
“Securing this detailed planning consent before the Covid pandemic took around six months.
Now it can take up to three years.
It is crazy that it takes as long to secure the detailed planning consent as it takes to dig the foundations, lay the bricks, add the roof, install central heating and electricity and provide the roads.
The real problem for housebuilders of all types is that they invariably need to borrow money to buy land and then have to spend years paying interest on these loans before recouping any of their investment by selling homes, making the whole venture far more risky.”
The Business
Having been transforming land and spaces since 1886, today Henry Boot is one of the UK's leading land, property development, home building and construction businesses.
The group, which has been listed since 1919, is renowned for quality, expertise, delivery and a partnership approach.
It is made up of six businesses – Hallam Land, HBD, Stonebridge, Henry Boot Construction, Banner Plant and Road Link.
From acquiring land and obtaining planning permission through to development, construction and maintaining an investment portfolio, it works across the whole property value chain.
While each business operates as its own profit centre, the Group’s Management encourages collaboration across the whole business, which in turn helps to spread risk.
Operating across the UK, and employing over 500 people, Henry Boot focuses upon three key markets: urban development, industrial and logistics, and residential.
Hallam Land manages one of the top five largest land portfolios in the country, with the potential to facilitate over 100,000 homes.
HBD manages a development pipeline of £1.2bn, the equivalent of 6m sq ft of developments across its key markets, while maintaining a £107m investment portfolio.
Stonebridge, its jointly owned homebuilding business, manages a land portfolio capable of delivering 1,700 homes, with an ambition to deliver up to 600 new homes a year.
Henry Boot Construction has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, including major projects such as the £200m regeneration of Barnsley town centre, and The Cocoa Works, a £57m residential development in York.
For over 65 years, Banner Plant has supplied construction plant and equipment.
The Henry Boot Balance
The group balances the business in the following ways:
- Its land promotion business has an extensive portfolio which mitigates risk while planning permissions of varying duration are obtained.
- The property development and investment business self-funds some projects, while others are delivered as joint ventures. Its portfolio generates a significant rental income, which facilitates investment in more diverse operational activities with higher returns.
- The construction business also generates income that can be re-invested into a portfolio of land and property development projects.
- Finally, a significant amount of equity is retained in the business to lessen the need for external borrowing, which provides for a solid financial structure and allows investment in greater profit and operations that produce higher equity.
The Equity
There are some 134m shares in issue.
The larger holders include The London & Amsterdam Trust (6.33%), FIL Investment Advisors (2.72%), Schroder Investment Management (2.09%), Artemis Investment Management (2.07%), Jupiter Asset Management (2.01%), Dimensional Fund Advisors (1.78%), Premier Fund Managers (1.46%), West Yorkshire Pension Fund (1.26%), Citigroup Global Markets (1.11%) and Legal & General Investment Management (1.06%).
Broker’s Views
Four analysts follow the group, all of whom rate the shares as a Buy.
The analyst consensus average Target Price is 316.80p, with the lowest at 255p, and the highest at 440p.
In My View
Earlier this year the group noted that it had 55% of its Order Book contracted, with a further 15% having been secured.
In late March it was looking for a sales increase of some 10% this year, and by the end of May it provided sales guidance for 2025, while expecting annual plot sales to be close to their medium-term target of 3,500 plots.
Its shares, which were up to 249.50p in early July, are now trading at 214p.
The statement accompanying tomorrow’s Interims should make a very interesting read.
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