Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone has increased its investment target to £2.5 billion over the next four years as it delivered continued growth in 2015.

Announcing its financial results for the year ended 31 August 2015, the Group delivered a further year of strong growth and significant investment progress, generating underlying profit before tax of £88.4 million.

The firm acquired 90 new development sites last year and currently has a land bank of 10,087 plots.

John White, Group chairman, said: “It has been another strong year of profitable growth for McCarthy & Stone. We continue to capitalise on the increasing demand for specialist retirement housing, driven by a rapidly ageing population and a structural under-supply of this form of accommodation in the UK.

“The Group is well-positioned to benefit from this unprecedented market opportunity, and the scale and quality of our land bank provides significant visibility over the medium-term for our potential rapid growth. Against this backdrop, we have increased our investment target for land and build to £2.5bn over the next four years and remain on track to deliver 3,000 specialist retirement apartments per year over the medium term, doubling the size of the business.

“In parallel, we continue to make operational improvements to the business to deliver improved capital turn, ensuring that our increasing margins and profit translate into higher returns. The Group also increased its order book of forward sales at the end of the financial year and the early weeks of trading have been encouraging, with our weekly net reservation rate 23 per cent ahead of last year for the first five weeks. Total forward sales, including legal completions in the year to date, stood at £177m on 2 October 2015.

“The strong fundamentals for the specialist retirement market ensure McCarthy & Stone is well-positioned for the future and I remain confident of further progress in 2016 and beyond.”