Redrow has turned its back on Scotland and sold its loss-making housebuilding north of the Border for £49 million.
Steve Morgan, the multimillionaire owner of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC who is Redrow’s chairman, said that Redrow would recycle cash proceeds by concentrating investment in the South East of England, where house prices are far higher.
The housebuilder signalled in the spring that it intended to quit Scotland after failing to make a go of it in the 16 years it has been there.
Redrow said that the Scottish business did not have sufficient scale and did not generate satisfactory returns. Last year, with the Scottish housing market still reeling from the recession, Redrow in Scotland made a loss of nearly £2 million on turnover of £31 million.
The company says that it wants to buy land in London and the South East, where it will focus on higher-margin larger family homes rather than flats.
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The buyer is the family-owned Elgin-based Springfield Properties, a construction and property developer. Springfield is paying £5 million upfront with £44 million in deferred payments over the next three years as developments are sold.
Mr Morgan, the founder of Redrow, said that the business had gone “to a good home”.