Fort the six months to 31st January 2015 Bellway generated revenues of £831.2m with pre-tax profit of £158.9m. (For the same period a year before it made £103.8m profit on £700.4m revenues.)
Operating margin improved from 15.6% to 19.9%.
New home completions were up nearly 16% to 3,754 (2014: 3,245).
Chairman John Watson said: "Bellway has achieved another tremendous set of results, taking further market share by delivering a growing contribution to the supply of much needed new homes. Our strong balance sheet and operational capacity has facilitated significant investment in land over recent years. This investment, together with our expanding divisional structure, has allowed the group to respond to ongoing customer demand, resulting in record half year earnings and a further significant improvement in return on capital employed.
Chief executive Ted Ayres said that the housing market in the north was now moving more quickly than the south, although London still accounts for a quarter of the business.
“The north has shown particular strength, with an increase of 23.6% in completions to 1,822 (2014: 1,474), resulting primarily from land investment over recent years,” he said. “The average selling price in the north has risen by 5.8% to £187,777 (2014: £177,526), a reflection of the investment in higher value, primary locations where demand is resilient.”
He continued: “The south has also performed well with the number of completions rising by 9.1% to 1,932 (2014: 1,771). The average selling price in the south has risen by 3.4% to £249,112 (2014: £240,823), influenced by strong demand and pricing improvements in London. London continues to form an important part of Bellway's output, with revenue of £203.2m arising from this region (2014: £174.6 million), representing 24.7% of total housing revenue.”
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