Housebuilder Galliford Try reports record profits The FTSE 250 company saw pre-tax profits rise 80pc to £63.1m for the year, on revenues which grew 17pc to £1.5bn. The sales growth was driven by a 40pc increase in completed property sales, including the company's joint ventures, to 3,039. Looking ahead, it will focus its housebuilding activities in the more robust southern market, where it currently has around 80pc of its business. The company set a new target of increasing profit margins by three percentage points by the end of 2015, which implies a margin of more than 15pc. For the financial year just gone, housebuilding margins rose to 11.8pc from 8.1pc a year earlier, but margins in its construction arm dropped to 2pc from 2.4pc. None the less Galliford said its construction business had been cushioned from the worst of the sector's downturn through its work in the water industry and for the Environment Agency. Mr Fitzgerald said the plan is to position its construction arm for "aggressive" growth, likely with fewer competitors still standing, if the market picks up as he suspects around 2015. Investors welcomed the results. The shares, which have risen by almost 70pc in the last 12 months, were up 2.2pc at 686½p by midday. Mark Hughes, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: "Galliford Try has reported an extremely strong performance within its housebuilding operations, whilst construction, although difficult, has outperformed the wider industry."