Performance

Strategic objective 1: Finance

We exceeded all our financial Key Performance Targets in 2003-04.

• Fee income was £399.2 million compared with £415.3 million in 2002-03.
• Fees were reduced under the Land Registration Fees Order 2003 introduced on 1 March 2003. The Order has been in place for a full year and accounted for the lower turnover.
• In the last three months of the financial year, property market activity has risen significantly, with a corresponding increase in fee income.
• The Return on Average Capital Employed (ROCE) was 11.5 per cent (target 6 per cent).
• ROCE decreased from 6 per cent to 3.5 per cent on 1 April 2004 following a revision announced in a Written Ministerial Statement by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury published on 8 September and laid before Parliament on 15 December 2003. Agreement was reached with Treasury officials that the decrease would be implemented at the start of 2004-05.

Efficiency
Our year-end figure was £20.47, meeting our real terms cost per unit milestone of £22.17. This represents a decrease against the year’s milestone of 7.9 per cent and an increase of 7 per cent over the previous year’s actual results (£19.06). The corresponding provisional cash terms figure for the year is £27.06, against a milestone of £29.31.