 Bellway is confident it can build on its success in future |
Rising prices and increased sales have helped housebuilder Bellway Homes post a 6.2% rise in full year profits. The group said pre-tax profit for the year to July 31 rose to �218.2m ($384.5m) from �205.5m a year earlier, in line with analyst expectations.
Bellway said it sold 7,001 homes over the year, compared to 6,610 last year, at an average price of �163,800.
Chairman Howard Dawe said the group was pleased with its performance "despite testing market conditions".
Mr Dawe added that turnover had risen 7.8% to a new record of �1.178bn.
He said the firm would be increasing its dividend by 25% to 31.25p.
Over the year to July, the firm also managed to boost the size of its land bank, which increased by a further 1,800 plots to 22,500.
Bellway builds the majority of its homes on "brownfield" or redeveloped sites, rather than "greenfield" sites that were once agricultural land, and specialises in low-cost affordable homes.
However, by the end of July, the builder's order book was worth just �513m compared to �587m at the same time last year, reflecting the recent slowdown in the property market.
Despite the fall, Bellway said it was "confident" about the future, adding that reservations for future house purchases in the first two months of the current financial year had shown an encouraging increase of 4%.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
