Glenveagh chief says future of director criticised in Siteserv report is ‘under review’

Stephen Garvey, the chief executive of listed housebuilder Glenveagh Properties, said it is keeping the situation “under review” regarding the future of one of the company’s directors, Robert Dix, who was heavily criticised last week in the report by the Commission of Investigation into the 2012 deal to sell Siteserv to Denis O’Brien.

The commission found Mr Dix, who was a director of Siteserv and chaired its sale subcommittee, gave “false, misleading and untruthful evidence in sworn affidavits”, and it suggested he could have been seen as “not impartial” in the process.

Responding to queries this morning about whether Mr Dix should remain as a non-executive director of Glenveagh in light of the findings, Mr Garvey would not comment directly on the future of his company’s senior independent director. He noted the findings have been handed over to several other State agencies, which include the Corporate Enforcement Authority, and Glenveagh would await the outcome of these referrals before deciding how to proceed.

“We’re obviously keeping it under review,” he said. Mr Garvey also said he had not discussed the matter with Mr Dix, a former partner at KPMG Ireland.

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Mr Garvey was speaking at a briefing following the publication of Glenveagh’s interim results, which showed its revenue and profit rose significantly in the first half of the year. Revenue rose 57 per cent to €200 million, up from €127.5 million a year earlier, while pretax profit was €13 million for the year. That compared with €4.3 million in 2021.

Mr Garvey suggested Government schemes to support housebuyers won’t be enough to solve the housing crisis unless the planning system is reformed to allow the building of more houses instead of apartments in suburban areas. He said that although the First Home and Help to Buy Schemes provided much-needed support to homebuyers, planning policy and systems required urgent reform.

He also predicted that new housing starts, which peaked at 35,000 on a rolling 12-month basis in March, would fall back to 25,000 by the end of the year. He said there is too much focus in national planning guidelines on building apartments, and that not enough of the right type of units are being built in the right locations.

He said the inflation environment remains “volatile” and he could not predict how much further building costs would rise, but he suggested materials such as steel and bricks, which require large amounts of energy in their production, would continue to rise. Mr Garvey also said an anticipated slowdown in the UK building trade was easing the shortage of workers for the Irish market, along with a commercial building slowdown here.

He predicted homebuyers would continue to be able to afford Glenveagh homes, which are often pitched around the €350,000 mark, even if interest rates rose by a further “two or 2.5 percentage points”.

Glenveagh reported that its suburban completions were up 31 per cent over the six-month period at 257, while 1,400 suburban units capable of closing in 2022 are now closed or in contract. In total, the forward order book in its suburban business was €588.1 million, up 59 per cent year on year, with 1,831 units.

Its urban business saw more than €310 million of total revenue across four projects signed to date in 2022, while its is also on track to deliver more than 2,050 units for local authorities with social, affordable and cost-rental homes. Planning lodgments for Oscar Traynor Road and Ballymastone are expected in the second half of the year.