Bovis Homes hikes dividend by 159% after profit surge in 2014

23rd Feb 2015 07:58

As previously guided, housebuilder Bovis Homes has hiked its full-year dividend by 159% after a surge in profits in 2014, helped by a record year for legal completions.The group also said that current trading was "robust" with private reservations and selling prices improving.Pre-tax profit jumped by 69% to £133.5m in 2014 on revenues that were 46% higher at £809.4m.Legal completions were up 29% at 3,635, while the average sales price appreciated by 11% to £216,600.Private reservations totalled 3,218, up 16% on 2013, equating to 0.64 per site per week. Meanwhile, forward sales at year-end were up 27% at 1,752.The company also said it had delivered a record year of land investment with plots in its consented land bank up 23% at 18,062. The group added 7,300 plots during the year at a cost of £340m, compared the £225m spent in 2013, as it invested "at the right point in the cycle".Chief executive David Ritchie said the results were "excellent", saying that the company's growth strategy remains on track."We laid out our strategic ambitions for the group at the time of our half-year results. This plan envisages the business, in a stable housing market, delivering sustainable growth over the next few years to annual volumes of between 5,000 and 6,000 new homes."We are on track to deliver this strategic plan, supported by record land investment," he said.Bovis had already said it would pay out a final dividend of 23p, taking the full-year dividend to 35p, up from 13.5p in 2013. The company plans to pay a dividend of at least 35p per share in 2015.For the first seven weeks of 2015, Bovis has already secured 479 private reservations, up from 468 at the same point last year, with sales prices achieved 2% ahead of the group's expectations.