Bovis writes back landbank provisions

8th Mar 2010 07:07

Housebuilder Bovis wrote back £11.6m of provisions made against its land bank in the second half of 2009 and has started to buy land again as the UK housing market stabilises."The group has recommenced investment in land and is pleased with the progress made to date, with four consented sites acquired in the last quarter of 2009 and terms agreed in principle at the year end on a further 15 sites, all of which have been progressed during the early part of 2010. With £112m of net cash in hand at 31 December 2009 the Group is well positioned to increase its output capacity, as markets recover, supporting future profitable growth," it said.In 2009, Bovis generated sales of £281.5m (2008: £282.3m) from the legal completion of 1,803 homes (2008: 1,817 homes). Underlying profits were £7.5m, down from £14.4m. Pre-tax profits came in at £4.8m against a loss of £78.7m last time.The £11.6m provision release followed an interim charge of £8.9m to give a net write-back of £2.7m " A degree of stabilisation in house prices evidenced in the marketplace in later 2009 will continue into 2010. Statistics would suggest the market as a whole has seen the commencement of modest pricing growth in the second half of 2009, although the group remains somewhat cautious due to the relatively low levels of second hand stock supporting price growth in the second hand market which appears to have moved ahead at a faster rate than the new build sector during 2009," Bovis added.