House builder Bellway ringing up profits

18th Oct 2011 07:15

Bellway, the FTSE 250 house builder, has seen full-year profits come in ahead of market expectations.Profit before tax in the year to the end of July hit £67.2m, up from £44.4m in 2010 and higher than the consensus forecast of £63.8m.This was achieved on turnover of £886.1m (2010: £768.3m) against market expectations of £859m.Bellway managed to sell 6.6% more homes in 2011, with 4,922 completions versus 2010's 4,595.Earnings per share reached 41.5p significantly higher than the 29.7p of 2010 and ahead of the consensus forecast of 38.8p. The final dividend will come in at 8.8p, giving a total dividend for the year of 12.5p, again ahead of market expectations.Chairman Howard Dawe said "against a backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty the group has performed very well ... with profit before tax rising by just over 50%, the board has decided to increase the final dividend by just over 30%."He added "reservations in the first nine weeks of the new financial year are almost 11% ahead of the same period last year".BS