Scottish housebuilder Cruden has reported a markedly stronger performance for the year to 31 March 2026, with profit before tax and exceptional items more than doubling as the five-star builder advances its sustainable growth strategy and expands into new regions.

Including its share of joint ventures, turnover rose to £134 million from £112 million the prior year, while profit before tax and exceptional items increased to £6.1 million from £2.8 million.

The improvement reflects better trading across core housebuilding after a strategic shift towards increased private development and partnership-led affordable housing, and away from price-led tendered construction.

Private home sales climbed by more than 20% to 148 (2025: 121). The average selling price was £311,000 versus £347,000, reflecting the mix of sales and a higher proportion of value-focused family homes.

The balance sheet also strengthened, with net assets of £48.7 million (2025: £42.6 million) and net cash of £21.3 million (2025: £18.4 million). The group ended the year with an undrawn £9 million revolving credit facility.

Fraser Lynes, Chief Executive of Cruden, said: "These results demonstrate the progress we are making and, importantly, show that our strategy is translating into stronger financial and operational performance.

"We have been very deliberate about how we want to grow Cruden. We are increasing our private housebuilding activity while focusing our affordable housing business on land-led developments and genuine partnerships where our development expertise can add real value.

"We are now seeing the benefits of that approach through increased home sales, improved profitability and a strong pipeline that gives us visibility over the next phase of growth. There is still a great deal to deliver, but we have entered the new financial year with real momentum and a clear sense of direction."

Cruden said it now has a development pipeline of more than 3,500 homes spanning private and affordable tenures, combining major regeneration and placemaking schemes with larger family housing developments, alongside continued expansion of its private housebuilding into new Scottish markets.

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At Granton Waterfront in north Edinburgh, the business is contributing to one of Scotland's largest regeneration programmes, delivering over 800 homes in the first phase. In Glasgow, The Village at Dalmarnock builds on Cruden's long-standing role in the area following completion of the award-winning Athletes' Village for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

New sites at Neukhaven Green in Pittenweem and Stonefield Brae in Neilston further extend regional reach, reflecting a disciplined approach to growth, placemaking expertise and a commitment to delivering much-needed homes in locations with strong long-term fundamentals.

Cruden's acquisition strategy is increasingly focused on securing larger developments that provide greater visibility and multi-year housing supply in individual locations, supporting plans to raise the number of homes delivered.

Lynes continued: "Our pipeline shows what the next phase of Cruden's growth looks like. It gives us a strong mix of carefully selected private developments and major partnership-led placemaking projects. Our focus now is on converting those opportunities into homes and sustainable growth.

"Growth for us isn't simply about getting bigger. It is about choosing the right developments, working with the right partners and delivering high-quality homes and places that customers and communities value."

Euan Haggerty, Chief Financial Officer of Cruden, said: "The quality of this year's performance is particularly encouraging. We have increased turnover and more than doubled profit before tax and exceptional items while continuing to reshape the business and invest in the platform for future growth.

"At the same time, net assets have increased to £48.7 million, and we finished the year with £21.3 million of cash reserves. That financial strength gives us resilience, but it also gives us the capacity to invest as we bring more of our development pipeline forward.

"The priority now is to maintain that discipline as activity increases. We are focused on converting the strength of the pipeline into sustainable growth in turnover, margin and cash generation, while continuing to manage our balance sheet carefully."

In November last year, BGF, one of the UK and Ireland's largest and most experienced growth capital investors, took a minority stake in Cruden — the group's first external investment — in a move seen as an endorsement of its ambitions, leadership and long-term vision.

Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, interest rate pressures and challenges around planning and public sector funding, Cruden said Scotland's structural housing shortage continues to underpin demand.

The company plans to progressively increase private home sales while growing its affordable housing activities and exploring opportunities across different tenures, including build-to-rent.

Fraser Lynes added: "Scotland needs significantly more homes across every tenure, and Cruden has both the capability and ambition to play an important part in delivering them.

"We have more than 80 years of heritage behind us, but our focus is firmly on what comes next. With a strong balance sheet, an increasingly diverse pipeline and a highly experienced team, we are well placed to build on our legacy while embracing our next stage of growth.

"The progress made this year gives us confidence, but our job now is execution, getting developments started, delivering for our customers and partners and continuing to build a strong and sustainable Cruden for the long term."