Bovis to bring back the dividend

9th Jul 2010 07:05

Housebuilder Bovis is selling homes in line with its targeted weekly sale rate and will resume dividend payments at the end of the financial year as long as things continue as they are.It admits the new homes market remains subdued with ongoing liquidity issues in the first time buyer market, but sales prices have still beaten internal expectations.Bovis legally completed 803 homes in the six months to 30 June, up 6% on a year ago, and increased the average net sales price for private homes to £163,500 from £160,400 in the first six months of 2009.Including the increased mix of social and partnership homes, the average sales price slipped to £158,500 from £159,700.Cumulative sales for 2010 legal completion are running at 1,474 homes compared with 1,364 a year ago, helped by an increase in private sales to 1,150 homes from 1,086 in 2009. So far this year, the net private sales rate per site per week has risen to 0.42 reservations from 0.39.More land has also been acquired for future development. The company has spent £107m on about 1,900 consented plots since the start of 2010, 80% of which are in the south of England. It's also agreed terms to buy another 2,500 plots."The group is selling homes in line with its targeted weekly sale rate and a continuation of this will allow the group to achieve its volume expectations for 2010," Bovis said."Given the confidence the board has in the medium term prospects of the group arising from its investment in new land opportunities and the group's strong net cash position, the board intends to resume dividends at the end of the current financial year, assuming the continuation of current market conditions in the new homes market."Bovis hasn't paid a dividend since it slashed the interim payout for 2008 to 5p a share from 17.5p in 2007. It had previously promised to pay 20p.