Taylor Wimpey

Infobox Company
company_name = Taylor Wimpey plc
company_
company_type = Public (lse|TW.)
foundation = 2007
location = London, England, UK
key_people = Norman Askew, Chairman
Peter Redfern, CEO
Peter Johnson, CFO
industry = Housebuilding
products =
revenue = £4,714m (2007)
operating_income = £536m (2007)
net_income = £(197)m (2007)
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = George Wimpey
Taylor Woodrow
homepage = [http://www.taylorwimpey.com www.taylorwimpey.com]
footnotes =

Taylor Wimpey plc (lse|TW.) (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is the largest British based house building and general construction company and the fifth largest in the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Its corporate headquarters are in London, its UK operational headquarters are in High Wycombe and its UK construction headquarters are in Watford.

The company was created from the merger of rivals Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey on 3 July 2007. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6494387.stm Wimpey and Woodrow agree to merge] ]

Taylor Wimpey reported a loss before tax of £19.5m on turnover of £4,714m for the year ended 31 December 2007. This loss was largely due to write downs on land values and Work In Progress (WIP) in the American business.

History

Taylor Woodrow

Taylor Woodrow was founded in 1921 by 16-year old Frank Taylor, who borrowed some money to build two houses in Blackpool. As he was too young to form his own company, his uncle Jack Woodrow lent his name to the business, and so it became "Taylor, Woodrow Limited". [http://www.taylorwimpey.com/Home/AboutUs/OurHistory/TaylorWoodrowHistory Taylor Woodrow History] ]

In the 1930s, Taylor Woodrow diversified into building temporary hospitals etc, and thereby moved into general construction. This is a business philosophy which has remained with Taylor Woodrow today.

Between 1945 and 2001 Taylor Woodrow's main operations were in general construction with Taylor Woodrow Homes only being a small part of the Group.

In 2001 Taylor Woodrow acquired Bryant Group, a business founded by Chis Bryant in Birmingham in 1885, for £556 million. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1130323.stm Tayor Woodrow buys up Bryant] ]

George Wimpey

George Wimpey was founded by George Wimpey and Walter Tomes (the latter sold out in 1893) as a stone-working partnership in 1880 in Hammersmith. [http://www.taylorwimpey.com/Home/AboutUs/OurHistory/GeorgeWimpeyHistory George Wimpey History] ]

George Wimpey died in 1913 at the age of 58. His family put the business up for sale in 1919. Godfrey Way Mitchell bought the firm and decided to retain the Wimpey name. George Wimpey completed its first residential development, the Greenford Park Estate, in 1928.

In the 1970’s George Wimpey became the UK's largest private house builder selling 106,440 homes in the decade, and in the 1980’s George Wimpey began to reinforce Wimpey Homes as a brand, focusing on quality compact housing. Advertising, featuring the famous Wimpey cat, ensured Wimpey Homes became a household name in house building. George Wimpey also had operations in Australia, Austria, Borneo, Canada, Hong Kong, Iraq, Jamaica, Kuwait, New Guinea, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

In 1996 George Wimpey acquired McLean Homes, a business founded in the 1920’s by John McLean, from Tarmac. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E1DE1239F935A25752C1A963958260 British home builders to swap some assets] ] In 2001 McAlpine Homes was acquired from Alfred McAlpine in a £463 million deal [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1489982.stm Wimpey buys McAlpine building unit] ] and in 2002 George Wimpey went on to acquire Laing Homes, a premium housebuilder, from John Laing for £295 million. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article140299.ece Wimpey takes over again as UK's biggest housebuilder] ]

Post merger

The completion of the merger between Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey took place on 3 July 2007.

In July 2008 Taylor Wimpey announced it was experiencing a 'significant downturn' in its major markets [ [http://www.taylorwimpey.com/Home/MediaCentre/PressReleases/TradingStatement3 Trading statement 2 July 2008] ] and as a result it would close 13 of its 39 regional offices. With a debt of £1.7bn, lenders were also insisting on disposal of Taylor Woodrow Construction after Taylor Wimpey failed to raise £500m in capital. [cite web
publisher = Building
title = Banks order Taylor Wimpey to sell Taywood
url=http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3117549&c=1
accessdate = 2008-07-04 ] When it was learnt that the Company could not raise new capital share prices plummeted more than 50%. [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/07/02/business/OUKBS-UK-TAYLOR-WIMPEY.php Taylor Wimpey unable to raise cash] ]

Operations

UK house building

Taylor Wimpey’s United Kingdom operations are based around four core brands: Bryant Homes, George Wimpey, Laing Homes and G2.

Bryant Homes and George Wimpey are both volume housebuilders based on the former Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey housebuilding networks respectively.

Laing Homes is aimed at the premium house market and G2 is focused on one and two bedroom luxery apartments.

Taylor Woodrow Construction

Over the years, the construction division, Taylor Woodrow Construction has undertaken a number of landmark projects including airports, cathedrals, football stadia, railway tunnels and roads. It has also built Tesco supermarkets.

Taylor Woodrow also provides facilities management and specialist engineering consultancy services.

Taylor Woodrow exited its operations under the Private Finance Initiative in July 2007, mainly in the healthcare and education sectors. The decision to exit PFI was taken in 2006, but kept on being delayed, and in the end, the department closed down to coincide with the George Wimpey merger.

North American operations

Taylor Wimpey’s North American operations are based around three core brands: Monarch, Taylor Woodrow and Morrison Homes.

Monarch’s primary focus today is on residential development and construction, including master-planned communities featuring single family homes and town homes. In 1994 Monarch entered into the high-rise sector. It mainly trades in the Ontario area under the name 'Monarch-by Taylor Woodrow' with the strap line 'Inspired by you'.

Taylor Wimpey also has substantial house building operations in certain parts of the USA, and is the fifteenth largest in the country. These operations are marketed under the brand 'Taylor Woodrow' with the strap line 'Inspired by you', and estates can be found in California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

Morrison Homes builds a range of traditional single family homes and more compact attached town homes.

A large number of employees have been dismissed throughout the United States, primarily in Florida. This was due to the drop in housing sales and closings during FY 2006 and FY 2007.

Other operations

The Taylor Wimpey group also owns Prestoplan, a specialist timber-frame manufacturer, and distribution firm Wilson Connolly Logisitics (WCL).

Offices

Taylor Wimpey's Corporate Headquarters are located at 80 New Bond Street in London. [ [http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3090128 Closure of Solihull offices] ]

The UK operational headquarters are in Stokenchurch, off the M40.

There are 26 regional offices in the UK, each with an outside fascia of 'Taylor Wimpey plc'. However, each office either serves 'George Wimpey' branded sites or 'Bryant Homes' branded sites only.

From July 2007, the combined USA operational headquarters were re-located to Bradenton, Florida, where Taylor Woodrow's USA operations were based. George Wimpey's Morrison Homes' headquarters, which were in Georgia, closed down.

References

External links

* [http://www.taylorwimpey.com/ Taylor Wimpey plc]
* [http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TW.L Yahoo! profile]