Simonds Homes has announced an almost $35 million turnaround in year-on-year earnings and a $4 million after tax profit, a result that clearly demonstrates the underlying strength of Simonds’ business.

Despite operating in a reduced revenue environment, Simonds’ annual results show a $23.3 million EBITDA – a $34.7 million increase from an $11.4 million loss in 2022/23.

 Simonds CEO, David McKeown, said the results demonstrate Simonds’ success in moving away from a narrow focus on residential building and diversifying into channels such as medium-density housing, insurance rectification works and knockdown rebuild homes.

 “Over the past two years Simonds has taken some hard decisions to downsize our business and taken a forensic look at how we operate both internally and externally,” Mr McKeown said.

 “We diversified into alternative channels, invested in our digital solutions, expanded and refreshed our product offerings and brand – all of which has helped to give us a broader revenue base.

 “These results and our continued positive outlook are testament to our efforts and help us remain successful despite the ongoing challenges in the market.”

Mr McKeown said some of the main challenges facing the industry were affordability and confidence in the building industry.

 “There are many factors contributing to the affordability crisis. Whilst building costs are now largely under control there are significant challenges around such things as interest rates and bank lending criteria which continue to make the ‘Great Australian Dream’ unattainable for many,” he said.

 “This in turn is a direct contributor to the housing crisis which, despite the efforts of governments in setting ambitious targets for new home builds, continues to worsen rather than improve.”

 Mr McKeown said that despite Simonds’ solid results and healthy balance sheet, not everyone in the industry was doing so well.

 “We are fortunate in that we and some other builders have done the hard yards to make our businesses more sustainable. But there are still many builders doing it tough,” he said.

 “That is why we encourage customers to do thorough research when choosing a builder for their dream home because it is imperative they decide on a building partner, who – like Simonds – is in a strong financial position and can ensure they will be able to complete the work as promised.

 “For 75 years Simonds has been an industry leader in delivering affordable, high-quality homes for more than 60,000 Australian families. We look forward to continuing this tradition for the next 75 years.”