Good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us for our 2026 interim results and outlook.

I'm delighted to be here with Richard Ball, our CFO, and Alva Molloy, our Head of Investor Relations. We've spent over 10 years building Cairn Homes to our current position.

The results today show the fruits of our investments and reflect the hard work and ambition of the Cairn team. We are delivering new homes more efficiently, we're better utilizing our own resources, and this is clearly reflected in today's upgraded ROE guidance.

H1 revenues have grown by 60% year-on-year, while operating expense growth was just 7%. In our presentation today, Richie and I will outline the reducing capital intensity of our business and how this will deliver strong cash flows and increasing returns for this year and beyond.

Let's turn to our interim results. We'll start on slide four where we've highlighted some of our key trading KPIs from the first half of 2026.

Revenue for the first half came in at €455 million, up 60% from H1 last year. 1,139 homes were sold, also 60%, circa 60% more than last year.

We've sold new homes to our widening range of customers across 19 developments in the urban and suburban areas of Dublin, the Greater Dublin Area, Cork, and Galway City. Looking forward, our current order book has grown to over 5,000 new homes, an increase of over 900 units year-on-year with a value of nearly €1.9 billion.

We have very strong visibility for our future growth. Our ASP for the period, as you can see, remained stable at €393,000, up just 1.6%.

This is despite build cost inflation, which is currently running at about 2.5%. In an inflationary environment, we have controlled ASP growth while increasing sales and improving our operating profit by 75% to just under €75 million.

Our operating margin for the first half grew to 16.4%. Cairn is a trusted brand, and more homebuyers are choosing our well-located, competitively priced homes.

This is clearly evidenced in our weekly private sales rate of 3.7 new homes per active sales development. EPS was 9.3 cent, up 82% year-on-year, reflecting strong earnings growth and improved operational leverage.

Moving to slide five, which covers some additional financial highlights, shareholder returns, and our improved guidance for 2026. Net debt has reduced significantly year-on-year, falling from €307 million to about €194 million.

Operating cash flow is €22.4 million, which is an improvement of over €140 million year-on-year. This is a material shift.

The net investments in WIP and land that we have made over the past number of years, particularly in 2025, is now unwinding as Cairn scales. I'll talk to you later about our forward-looking land replacement strategy, including more detail on our increasing low-cost strategic land bank and our improving WIP turn.

Our net assets have grown by close to €100 million to €863 million. We are also today increasing our interim dividend by 10% to 4.5 cent per share.

We are announcing a new €50 million share buyback program starting today. These both signal the strong cash generation and financial flexibility we have to reward our shareholders.

As outlined on this slide, we are also today upgrading our full-year 2026 guidance. Moving to slide six now and our sales pricing and product mix.

Table on the left clearly illustrate the consistency of our ASPs since 2024. While our house prices have grown by a little over 4%, our apartment and duplex pricing has remained flat.

We are now also delivering homes across a much broader land bank with 30 selling sites in the full year 2026. As well as launching new phases of our existing large developments during the year, we are also bringing 13 brand-new schemes to the market in 2026.

Overall, the number of houses we are delivering is growing, and we will continue to do so over the next 12 months as we prioritize increased delivery of owner-occupier homes, the majority of which will be for our first-time buyers. Moving on to slide seven, we've outlined our growing realizable market.

More buyers are choosing our homes and our market share is increasing. We do deliver industry-leading quality and affordability with a growing brand affinity.

We are unique in our delivery of large, well-located, mixed-tenure developments situated near multimodal transport links. A wide range of unit typologies together with the multiple tenures our homes are designed for significantly broadens our realizable market.

We're a committed partner of the Housing Agency in Ireland in making the recently introduced Croí Cónaithe scheme a success. This is a targeted initiative which is unique to the Irish market.

Along with recent VAT reductions on apartments and changes to design guidelines to improve density, this clearly illustrates the government's intent in ensuring that apartments play an increasingly important role in meeting future housing needs. Combined with this significant buyer support, our own low-cost apartment delivery model opens up the possibility of ownership in our cities to an expanding cohort of new customers.

We've include some feedback in the center of the slide from one of our recent Croí Cónaithe launches on the edge of Dublin City. This highlights some of the benefits of apartment ownership in urban locations, including that 70% of our new apartment owners will be moving from private rental.

65% will take public transport to work, and 45% work in the center of Dublin City. On the right-hand side, we call out a very important underpin to realizable demand.

Over the next 5 years, we are targeting that circa 60% of our owner-occupiers' homes will be priced below the government price caps of the First Home and Help to Buy schemes. These two critical supports for our first-time buyers have been extended, and we will continue to ensure that the majority of the increasing number of starter homes we deliver will qualify.

Slide eight illustrates Ireland's strong economic performance. The macro backdrop for housing is certainly supportive.

As Ireland is one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe over a multi-year period, and we have transitioned to a leader in housing delivery investment. Domestic economic indicators remain supportive.

Demand continues to be underpinned by a strong economy, population growth, and changing demographics. Our government has the fiscal capacity to continue to invest in housing delivery into the future.

They have committed €36 billion in housing and investment infrastructure to 2030 alone. On a per capita basis, this level of investment is now the highest in Europe and approximately three times the EU27 average.

Employment, incomes, and mortgage availability continue to support housing need. Population growth and falling household size are also increasing long-term housing requirements.

These trends are informing our own design and delivery strategy. Now moving to slide nine, where Ireland's supportive policy environment is unlocking supply.

Key challenges remain, but there are clear signs that wider policy measures are beginning to address some of the key constraints on housing delivery. Planning reforms are helping reduce delays and improve certainty.

As I mentioned earlier, policy and funding interventions are improving apartment activation rates, as you can see on the slide. Infrastructure investment is increasingly focused on unlocking housing delivery at scale.

Over the past 2 years, government policy has evolved from planning-led housing policy to an increasingly infrastructure-led and aligned delivery model. Water, transport, energy, site servicing are now more widely recognized as prerequisites to achieving housing need.

A really good example is illustrated on the map shown here in the right-hand side of the slide. The Housing Activation Office, recently formed, allocated close to a €1 billion of new infrastructure funding to speed up the activation of 86 large housing developments across Ireland.

Seven of our own planned developments will benefit from this funding and speed up our own delivery timelines. On slide 10, we've outlined some of our current key sustainability highlights.

We continue to be a leader in sustainable construction. Our commitment to sustainability is delivering clear results.

Some highlights from H1 are outlined on the slide here. Nearly 5,500 people are now employed across Cairn sites, and this is supported by a growing apprenticeship academy of nearly 350 active or qualified apprentices.

We recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and continue to prioritize our own diversity. We are immensely proud of our talented team.

It's important to us that when we deliver homes, we create thriving communities. Our focus on placemaking is evident in our Home Together and Cairn Community Games initiatives.

Now, we look at our continued investment in innovation on slide 11. Our investment in innovation is centered on improving affordability and access to housing for our customers.

Along with our design and supply chain partners, we work to understand our customers and markets and how they will evolve. On the right-hand side, you see a selection of images of our newly open innovation hub and our training rig.

Based in Seven Mills, our innovation hub provides a home for collaborative innovation, allowing us to harness our subcontractors and partners and their know-how, the knowledge within our growing Irish, UK, and expanding European supply chain, our design partners and professionals, and also to explore new ways to leverage AI and digital design technologies. Moving to slide 12.

I'd like to spend a little bit of time here as we illustrate how capital intensity of our business is reducing while still driving significant growth and ROE progression. We have built a differentiated land acquisition capability.

We source large-scale sites, typically 500 units, in locations with enabling infrastructure. We built relations with landowners who see us as a partner of choice.

Today, we now own a land bank of 18,000 units across 38 sites. Most importantly, these are at an average plot cost of €37,000.

We've now added a capital-light strategic land bank of circa 2,750 units. We have an additional strategic pipeline of 6,500 units.

Our deal structures within this strategic pipeline have evolved and include low-cost land options, deferred considerations, contracts conditional on zoning and planning, and joint ventures. Our WIP turn is also improving.

WIP investment is partially recovered through forward funds as we build some of our larger apartment developments for our state partners. Our brand scale and multi-year order book also de-risk our capital investment.

All of this contributes to our unique ability to recycle and replace our invested capital at pace. Return to accretive growth that we are delivering is demonstrated today in our upgraded full-year '26 ROE guidance of circa 17%.

I'm going to hand you over to Richie, who'll bring you through our financials for the period.

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone.

Our business today is in a strong financial position, and we've great confidence in our future. This underpins our increased guidance for 2026, an increase in our interim dividend by 10% to 4.5 cent, and the announcement of a new €50 million share buyback, which will commence today.

As you can see on slide 14, we've delivered a record first half with growth across every major earnings measure. Revenue increased 60% to €455.5 million, driven by 1,139 closings, up 61% year-on-year.

Gross profit rose 54% to €96.9 million with gross margin of 21.3%. We have built the platform to support a much larger business.

With overheads up only 7% in H1, operating profit grew 75% to €74.8 million, and operating margin increased to 16.4%, highlighting our operational leverage. Profit after tax rose 84% to €58.4 million, driving an 82% increase in our earnings per share to 9.3 cent.

Net asset value increased 13% to €860.3 million or €1.37 per share. We also declared an interim dividend of 4.5 cent per share, which will be payable on the 2nd of November.

Moving to slide 15 and our revenue and sales performance KPIs. Our sales pipeline provides strong visibility over both near-term delivery and the recovery of capital invested in work in progress.

The total closed and forward sales pipeline stands at 5,020 units with net revenue of €1.9 billion, up 23% year-on-year. Of these, 3,881 units, worth €1.44 billion in net revenue, are in the order book for the remainder of 2026 through to 2028.

That depth of demand is important as we scale output. Over the last 12 months, closing WIP increased €48 million to €483 million, while the value of forward sales increased €174 million to €1.44 billion, giving three times coverage.

We have exceptional visibility. Our investment is supported by a strong and growing forward order book, giving us confidence in the timing and quality of future cash conversion.

Next to our balance sheet on slide 16. The key point is that our balance sheet remains asset-backed and is conservatively leveraged.

At the same time, it gives us the capacity to support our growth ambitions into 2027 and beyond. At 30th of June, land held for development was €693.3 million, and construction work in progress was €482.9 million.

Net assets increased €24 million to €860.3 million as we continue to strengthen our equity base. At the end of H1 and given our strong H1 cash flow performance, debt to gross asset value was 18.6%, tracking below our year-end target of circa 20%.

We continue to have significant funding capacity with €500 million of committed debt facilities and no maturities until June 2029 following our recent €42.5 million loan note refinancing. Overall, the balance sheet gives us the capacity to fund disciplined growth while also allowing us to accelerate returning capital to shareholders.

Moving to slide 17. This slide shows the investment in scale is translating to a stronger cash generation, as expected.

EBITDA increased 68% year-on-year to €78.6 million. After a net €69.1 million investment in work in progress, we generated €22.4 million of operating cash flow in the first half.

That compares with an outflow of €118.6 million last year, an improvement of €141 million. We returned €36.8 million to shareholders through dividends during the period.

Even after returning significant capital to shareholders, net debt reduced by €112.9 million year-on-year to €194.5 million, highlighting our improved capital efficiency. grow the business, preserve financial strength, and increase shareholder value.

To fund our future growth, we are recycling our capital with greater efficiency. More than 90% of additional WIP spend is targeted to be recovered within 12 months, while our target recovery period for net land investment is 3 to 4 years.

Our track record of value creation is clear. ROE has increased from 5.7% in FY '21 to a target of 17% in FY '26, delivering returns that are roughly three times higher than FY '21.

We have a strong balance sheet that provides resilience. We intend to maintain low leverage with year-end debt to gross asset value of approximately 20%.

That is consistent with the 17.8% at the end of 2025. Lastly, we are returning surplus capital.

We remain committed to progressive ordinary dividends as evidenced by our 10% growth in our interim dividend announced today, supplemented by additional returns through share buybacks after funding growth. grow efficiently through disciplined capital allocation and operational leverage, retain resilience with a strong balance sheet and financial flexibility, and increase shareholder value through value creation and capital returns.

I will now hand you back over to Michael to bring you through our raised guidance.

Thank you, Richie. Now, let's finish up on slide 20 and talk about our outlook.

Demand is real and sustained. Our platform is built to deliver whilst maintaining the quality and placemaking that we've earned a reputation for.

We've great visibility through our record order book into 2028. We're investing in our platform, our people, our systems, our innovation, and our communities.

We want to make ourselves even more efficient and drive long-term sustainable growth. We are generating increased cash flow, as Richie talked about, to fund this growth and reward shareholders simultaneously.

We are strategically positioned in our market to service the housing needs Ireland faces. Finally, to wrap up, we are pleased today to be upgrading full-year 2026 guidance on key financial metrics: revenue to circa €1.08 billion, operating profit to circa €185 million, and ROE from 16.5 to 17%.

Thank you for your time today. I'm now going to hand you back to Madalina for questions from people on the call.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Done, guys, on what's a really great set of H1 results.

Hiya, Shane. How's it going?

All good. Thanks, Michael.

Yeah. Thank you.

Shane, before we start, I just want to say we're joined here today by our new Director of Finance and Treasury, Elaine O'Brine, helping us out for the first time on our results; and the great Declan Murray, who needs no introduction, who told me yesterday this is his 21st results with Cairn. Welcome, Elaine and Dec.

Go ahead, Shane.

Brilliant. Thanks, guys.

First question, I guess, just in terms of the capital allocation story and slide 12 is really helpful in that facet. Just, I guess, digging a bit deeper into kind of capital allocation priorities from here, obviously, there's this drive to reduce the capital intensity.

How should we think about priorities in '27 when I think about excess capital returns versus investment in the land bank? Is it more land bank investment being through these kind of capital-light, strategic land bank sort of models is how I should be thinking about it and that will help us frame the kind of capital allocation story for the business through the next 18 months or so?

Then the second one, I guess, look, there's going to be a lot of policy discussion in the lead-up to the budget. In particular, wanted to dig a little bit deeper on Croí Cónaithe.

It seems to be working pretty well. Is it genuinely unlocking kind of new apartment schemes that might not have otherwise been viable, and do you think it becomes a bigger function of the market going forward?

I suppose, starting there, it has to be. If you look at the government's target in the sort of 50,000 units a year, to achieve that, we have to be delivering about 25,000 apartments a year.

We're kind of hovering around a run rate of between 9 and 12. The number of apartments has to more than double over the next number of years, Shane.

A lot of those apartments are for affordable rental, supported by increased delivery through the affordable housing associations, the Land Development Agency. They have a very important role.

This government is really intent on increasing homeownership across the full spectrum of housing typologies and particularly apartments. Croí Cónaithe is unique to Ireland.

It's an incredibly impactful initiative, we believe, and it is working because it moves people from homes that they rent, apartments that they rent, often costing €2,000 to €2,500 per month. You'll see some information in the appendix of our presentation today, which show that, with support and at the price points we're delivering these apartments at, Shane, people can own apartments for as little as €800, €900 a month mortgage.

Incredibly impactful. We're massively supportive of it.

The scheme that we've talked about in the customer feedback is the largest so far delivered under Croí Cónaithe. We're delivering well in excess of 200 units, actually in Seven Mills.

Our first launch off-plan of those apartments, we had inquiries from over 4,000 people. Young people in Ireland are really keen on this initiative.

They're really keen to live close to where they work and close to city center. Rich, anything to add on the capital allocation piece around that sort of growth of our capital-light strategy?

It's just really for us a sensible way for us to think about increasing our capacity in land bank.

I think and obviously, look, as Shane would have known our last announcement of share buyback was actually back in 2024. Then we made a material net investment into our WIP in '25 of about €100 €167 million, which is obviously translating into a very strong cash generation profile for the business.

Combined with that and obviously, our reduced capital intensity, which has been driven by our land strategy which we continue to focus on and which we have communicated consistently over the last 12 12 months, and also just that more efficient WIP turn. The big focus for us is our ROE returns and making sure that our capital investment decisions are accretive to returns to shareholders.

Yeah. The only thing I would add is look, the land market is probably more active in the last 6 to 12 months than it's been for a number of years.

That's really positive. That's reflecting on the level of demand that's out there and how smaller to mid-sized builders are starting to expand and scale.

That's really, really positive. All of our land is bought off-market.

Our ability to pivot to strategic land buying is because we're recognized as a very credible partner. We're probably one of the few people that can go after those really larger sites in urban areas and on those multimodal transport links and continue to drive value.

We're really happy with our position. Today is the time to have a large land bank, particularly at an average cost of €37,000 per unit, Shane.

Makes sense. Thanks, Michael.

Thanks, Richard.

Thanks. Morning, Michael and Richie.

I also say welcome, Elaine. It's great to have Declan on.

Hope you're doing well.

Morning, Johnny.

First question from me would be a follow-up question on the land buying. You've told us today how your land sourcing is becoming much more capital-efficient.

How will working capital evolve as the land under options increases? When you think about your net debt target at 20% of GAV, would that change much if payables increased with your land options?

Then the second question would be on the order book at over 5,000 units. Are there any large schemes within that to call out?

Does that include units for delivery beyond 2027 at this stage?

On the order book, yeah, it certainly does into 2028, obviously a smaller portion, Johnny. Rich'll pass over to you in a sec.

I suppose how do we think about land and its relationship to our improving WIP turn, Johnny. I suppose put simply, obviously, if you look at Cairn historically, we've had a large wholly owned land bank.

It's appropriate as we grow in scale and we've become a bigger business that we evolve that strategy. We find lower-cost options and lower [cost?]

[unclear] land. It doesn't mean that we won't acquire sites directly, but more and more of the land will be bought using these mechanisms.

Really what that means is, and I refer to land often that might be bought subject to zoning or planning, the length of time the land spends in our balance sheet to the point at which we can monetize that land and deliver homes has significantly reduced. It's a higher WIP speed.

It's a better WIP turn for most of our developments because we can de-risk them before we go on site. Also, we can enter into joint venture opportunities with existing large landowners that might not want to sell their land, but might want to partner with a company that they trust to deliver that project over multiple years.

Particularly if they know that that land needs to be unlocked through the system. Cairn are probably recognized as a business that over 11 years now have built up the credibility and the relationships to help unlock land.

Ireland's a complex market with 31 local authorities. We've a lot of different state entities, and our ability to be able to navigate those, Johnny, I suppose, is important and also aids that land strategy.

On the WIP side also, we've talked a little bit about forward funding. It's a massive benefit to our balance sheet because what it means on a go-forward basis is a significant portion of our WIP is actually paid for on a monthly basis as we build out larger schemes.

We will self-fund our own private sales for both houses and apartments, Johnny, but a lot of the schemes that we're on for our state partners for AHBs and the Land Development Agencies and we're on numerous and numerous schemes, large apartment schemes. Today, I think we're building on about 13 or 14 very large apartment developments.

A significant portion of them are funded monthly through a forward funding mechanism. In a lot of cases through that structure, Richie, we also sell down the site to the customer as well.

We're monetizing the land before we even commence construction on the site, and then our WIP is being paid on a monthly basis. Anything to add there, Rich?

Just on your land creditors point, Johnny, obviously, look, as we outlined today, our debt to gross asset value of circa 20% for the year-end, a lot of those land transactions and those options arrangements that we have, there's obviously certain conditions in there, which obviously can be triggered at different points of time with regard to zoning or planning. Within a period, there may be some additional land acquisitions.

We're really thinking about as we go forward in the next couple of years, we don't see the material net investment back into land that we would have seen over the last 20 24 months. I suppose that that's the really important point.

Yeah. I suppose important to say in a forward order book, we're not changing our approach to our private market.

We only sell private homes that will be ready to occupy within the following three up to maybe a maximum of 6 months, but very rarely. We are pleased to say, Johnny, that that forward order book will continue to grow as we work through the autumn selling season.

We had a very successful weekend last weekend on a number of launches. It's great to see demand so strong returning after a great summer.

Our order book will continue to grow and will grow with more of our kind of near-term private sales between here and probably the end of October and into November.

Excellent. Thanks very much.

Thanks, Johnny.

Thank you. Morning, guys.

Congrats on the results. I've a couple left if that's all right.

The first one just on build costs, if that's all right. Something that's been pretty benign given what's going on in energy markets, certainly in the year to date and again, you've reiterated what you said back in July.

Maybe talk a little bit about whether there's any pressures out there and anything particular, anything that might be worrying you at this point in time. The second one just following up on your comments on the land market, Michael.

Clearly, you're not playing as much in it or quite as much as you were maybe in the last couple of years. Given your comments on how active the market is itself, pricing-wise, are you seeing anything that looks really attractive, or is there any kind of areas of concern there in terms of viability with the activity that's going on?

Thanks.

Thanks, Colin. Look, the land market is more buoyant.

A very large portion of it is on-market, Colin, because I suppose landowners know that there is more buoyancy and there is more demand. Plot costs on average are probably certainly close to double what our existing land bank cost is.

There is a lot of activity in land. We buy off-market, and we don't need to replace at such a heavy rate because we've been working for a number of years now and talking about those kind of option deals and different ways to replace land more strategically, I suppose, Colin.

What's our worry on build cost inflation? I suppose the longer it lasts, Colin, you probably worry a little bit that what are currently a kind of more surcharges in the market, more temporary kind of relief and supports for our supply chain turn into kind of more permanent increases.

That's certainly a watch-out. The longer this lasts, Colin, the more uncomfortable I get, I suppose, that some of those costs we're seeing become a little bit more sticky.

We're in an island economy, transport costs hit us, and this is mainly a transport-type crisis more so than, let's say, a raw material problem. Ukraine, you might remember, natural gas really drove up energy costs and particularly manufacturing energy costs and here, a lot of our materials much harder than this time around.

This is more of a transport cost challenge for us today. Look, we'll keep an eye on that, Colin.

How is Cairn better protected today? Now, we've probably doubled the amount of materials that we purchase in the last couple of years, Colin.

We're sourcing an awful lot more from mainland Europe. That might be higher transport costs, but we can source much better lower-cost materials from Eastern Europe, for example.

That's certainly supporting some of the numbers we've been able to come out with today. I suppose the growth, the scale of our business is just helping to mitigate some of that increase of 2.5% we're seeing in build costs.

Richie?

Look, as you mentioned, Colin, look, we've been very consistent throughout the year with regard to build cost inflation. Obviously, the last trading update, obviously, we're calling 2.5% up to July.

As we look forward, we're happy with that 2.5% for '26. Obviously, as we go forward into 2027, we're not as highly procured as we are for this year where we're procured nearly 90 95% for '26.

But 50% procured for

'27.

For '27.

That's great. Appreciate it, guys.

Thanks, Colin.

Hi. Good morning.

I've got a question, please, on the return on equity. Obviously, you talked about a new target of 17% today.

Then I think, just in some of the comments you made, you talked more around patience as capital efficiency and volume growth, and some of the things you're doing in terms of land investment. Is it therefore sort of fair to assume that if you look out over the medium term, that that number can move higher, or do you feel the sort of 17, 17.5% is the sort of steady-state ROE for the business?

Thanks.

Look, we're really comfortable that our ROE rate is going to be stable. That 17 to 17.5% rate is a good reflection of how efficient we are.

At this point in time, Richie, we're comfortable with that guidance.

Obviously, look, as I just want to see on the slide, Harry, about our track record and the growth in our ROE over the last number of years, and we've obviously clearly called out that that's a very key performance measure for us. Probably back into what we're seeing even on any new transactions on the land side that we're doing them on the terms that they're accretive to those returns.

I think the point is that upgrade today from that 16.5 16.5% to 17% for FY '26.

Okay. Thank you.

Thanks, Harry.

Thank you. Thank you all for joining us.

We look forward to seeing many of you in person over the next week or so. Most importantly, thank you all for your continued support.

Chat soon.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.