(Reuters) - UK homebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc (LON:TW) on Thursday forecast growth in the number of homes built in 2022 and announced an about 150 million pound ($201.14 million) share buyback after posting a more than two-fold surge in its annual profit.
UK homebuilders have stayed optimistic about demand in the undersupplied housing market even after Britain's January inflation rose at its fastest annual pace in nearly three decades, while the worsening Russia-Ukraine conflict adds further pressure on fuel prices.
"We continue to expect to deliver low single digit year-on-year completions growth in 2022 and to make further progress towards our 21-22% operating margin target," the company said in a statement.
Britain's third-largest homebuilder last month said insider Jennie Daly would take over as its next CEO from the end of April, after activist shareholder Elliott criticised the homebuilder's strategy and called for the appointment of an outsider to the role.
The FTSE 100 firm declared a final dividend of 4.44 pence per share and said it has instructed Citigroup (NYSE:C) Global Markets to buy up to 75 million pounds of shares as first tranche of the buyback programme.
The homebuilder said it expected sales price growth to continue to offset build cost inflation in 2022, which was currently running at about 6%.
Taylor Wimpey's bigger rivals Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) and Persimmon (LON:PSN) too have forecast strong market activity this year.
Pre-tax profit for the year ended Dec. 31 came in at 679.6 million pounds, compared with 264.4 million pounds a year earlier and 835.9 million pounds in the 2019 fiscal.
($1 = 0.7458 pounds)