BRITISH homebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it had started a round of job cuts and more could be on the way. It is seeking to reduce costs after having flagged weaker sales and forecasting that it would build about a quarter fewer homes this year than the last.

Britain’s largest homebuilders have already cut back their building targets as higher mortgage costs and economic uncertainty depress buyer demand.

“Some roles were made redundant, some were actually vacant following the recruitment fees we had undertaken earlier in the year, and we deployed some employees to other parts of the business that require them,” chief executive Jennie Daly said on Thursday (Mar 2).

The redundancies were across all the departments of the business, she said, but did not specify how many of the company’s workforce of around 5,000 would be affected, adding that consultations were ongoing.

The company in January said that it was expecting to generate annualised savings of about £20 million (S$32.3 million) from cost-saving steps.

Taylor Wimpey’s sales rate for the year to the week ended Feb 26 dropped to 0.62 homes per outlet, down from 1.02 units a year earlier.

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The order book – a key industry measure that gauges future sales performance – stood at £2.15 billion as at Feb 26, down from £2.9 billion a year earlier.

Taylor Wimpey now expects to build between 9,000 and 10,500 homes in 2023, way below the 14,154 units it constructed a year ago.

Shares in the company fell nearly 1 per cent in early trade.

The FTSE 100 developer’s operating profit for the year ended Dec 31 grew more than 11 per cent to £923.4 million pounds. REUTERS