Cala slips into the red following one-off £20m building safety remediation cost

Cala Group has reported a pre-tax loss for the year to 31 December 2025.

The Edinburgh-based housebuilder reported a loss of £16.3m, compared to a £19.8m profit the previous year. Its operating profit fell from £56.4m to £22.5m.

Cala would have reported a £9.4m pre-tax profit if it had not been hit by £25.7m of exceptional items, including £20.5m set aside to fix newly-discovered building remediation issues.

It said: “Like many housebuilders, Cala has signed a pledge committing to remediate life critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres that we have played a role in developing or refurbishing over the last 30 years.

“During 2025, further investigation work has been performed to assist in forming a detailed view on fire safety measures. Following this workstream, an additional £20.5m of provision has been added, with further sites being added to the list of remedial works required, and many cost tenders received.”

The group also had one-off costs of £1.5m relating to empty office provisions and staff re-organisation costs of £3.6m.

The group’s overall turnover fell 9% from £1.2bn to £1.1bn. Its completions fell from 2,861 to 2,516 homes. Cala started work on 22 new sites in the year, which will deliver 1,735 homes.

However, Tom Nicholson, chief executive of Cala Group, said average weekly reservation rates in 2026 have been “disappointing “

He said: “In the first 26 weeks we have traded at a rate of 0.51 weekly sales per development, with 897 net private reservations taken.

“This rate is behind the equivalent period in 2025 (0.73) albeit sales pricing over the first 26 weeks is broadly in line with budget expectations.” He said he expects the subdued market conditions to continue throughout the year.

He added: “We are however encouraged by the level of interest in our developments in 2026 so far, reflected in both enquiries and website activity and with increased political stability we are confident that we can capitalise on this interest.”