Bovis Homes hails best sales since 1997 float
BOVIS Homes saw profits and revenues jump in the first half of the year thanks to a pick-up in confidence in the housing market and after selling more profitable family homes in the south of England.
The housebuilder yesterday said operating profits increased 50 per cent to £20m in the six months to
30 June, up from £13.6m the same time last year while housing revenues jumped 17 per cent to £183.2m.
Bovis built and sold 963 more homes, up two per cent on last year, and saw the average selling price increase 15 per cent to £188,500 thanks to more lucrative family homes being sold in the more robust southern market.
An 11 per cent rise in the number of sales outlets to 91 also helped boost profits. Chief executive David Ritchie declared the group’s sales performance “the most positive” it has seen since it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.
It secured 1,712 private reservations in the 32 weeks to 9 August, a 43 per cent leap on last year, and has now sold 90 per cent of the homes targeted for the 2013 financial year.
“We think we will pull in the required sales for this year much earlier now, within the next few weeks,” Ritchie said.
Around 500 customers reserved using the government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme, which Ritchie said had added “to what was already a more confident housing market backdrop.”