Bovis Homes has posted a pre-tax profit of £4.8m in its results for the year ending 31 December 2009, after making a loss of £78.7m in 2008.
The house builder was boosted by an £11.6m inventory provision release on its land bank during the second half of the year, due to a recovery in house prices and a fall in construction costs.
This helped offset an inventory provision charge of £8.9m during the first half of 2009 which, along with a £4.2m interest charge, resulted in total net exceptionals of £2.7m. In 2008, Bovis Homes reported £93.1m of exceptional items.
Revenue for 2009 was static at £281.5m (2008: £282.0m).
The firm has cut its overheads by 34% compared to 2008, and by around 45% relative to two years ago.
Bovis Homes has recommenced land acquisition, after raising £59m during the autumn, and had bought four consented sites and agreed terms in principle on a further 15 sites at 31 December 2009. Work has now started on these sites.
The house builder currently has 12,042 plots of land with planning consent (2008: 13,545 plots) and 16,363 potential plots of strategic land (2008: 18,972 potential plots).
The firm looks in healthy shape overall with £112m of net cash at 31 December 2009 (2008: £108m).
David Ritchie, chief executive, said: "The group is well positioned to increase its output capacity, as markets recover, supporting future profitable growth."
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