Housing sales are up and the construction order book is at a record high of £1.5bn.
Profit before tax was £6.6m for the year to 31 December 2012. This came on the back of a £30.4m loss in 2011 before exceptional items.
Group revenue was up 5% to £619.9m.
The main drivers behind the increased profit were housing, where new land bought more cheaply yielded increased margins, and the mining business, thanks to coal prices hedged at favourable rates.
Construction produced a profit before interest of £3.2m (2011: £6.8m) on turnover of £259.4m (2011: £238.6m). More than £500m of new work was booked during the year, 50% higher than in 2011. This resulted in a year-end order book of £844m, plus a further estimated workload of £686m from framework agreements over the next five years.
Total housing sales increased by 5% to 1,831 units (2011: 1,745 units) with an average selling price of £170,000, an increase of 6% (2011: £161,000).
Miller was refinanced in February 2012, bringing in £160m of new equity investment, making GSO Capital Partners, a division of The Blackstone Group, the major shareholder.
Group chief executive Keith Miller said: “The group performed well, with underlying profit before interest up 40% compared to last year. Although we are continuing to operate in a demanding economic environment, the group has a strong balance sheet and long term committed bank facilities, which provides us with financial flexibility. We have made good progress in improving the margins in our consented land bank and, in addition, we have a valuable strategic land portfolio which will underpin our future land requirements. Together with a record construction order book and a high quality commercial property development pipeline, the group is strongly positioned for 2013 and beyond.”
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