McInerney shares fall as housing completions fall short of targets

TOUGHER credit conditions and falling consumer confidence resulted in a sharp dip in Irish housing completions for McInerney Properties, the group said in a trading update for last year.

As a result the group failed to deliver the number of completions indicated in September by the group.

Shares in McInerney were down 7 cents to €2.53 by mid afternoon, a fall of 3.58%.

Despite the slowdown in Ireland the group said it was leaving its profit guidance for the year unchanged.

It was underpinned by a better group performance in the British housing market, now the biggest part of the group’s operations.

Over the year private house completions in Ireland fell sharply to 594 from 1,025 in 2006.

In September shares in McInerney fell 20% in a day when it disclosed it built 100 less houses in the first half, than in the same period in 2006.

At the time the group’s stock price fell to €1.39, but have recovered somewhat despite the persistent negative sentiment on Irish equities.

Yesterday the group noted the housing market was going through a period of transition creating more realistic expectations about the quantity of new homes the economy will require in the years ahead.

Britain and Spain delivered good results with completions were up at 2,414 in 2007 from 2,372 in 2006. That included a “significant” rise in British output where the group built 1,400 private in 2007 compared to a more modest 980 the previous year.

“In Ireland, negative sentiment and the tightening of credit caused us to achieve fewer unit completions than indicated in our September guidance,” said chief executive Barry O’Connor.

However he said he was confident the Irish market will stabilise because the fundamentals behind the Irish housing market remain positive.