Bovis Homes sees significant growth in 2012

HOUSE builder Bovis Homes said it expected to achieve a significant increase in profit in 2012, benefiting from forward bookings rising by more than a third, following strong earnings growth in 2011.
By The Newsroom
Published 16th Jan 2012, 08:21 BST

The company said it expects to report overall completions up 8 per cent to 2,045 homes in 2011, with private legal completions up 18 per cent in the year.

Kent-based Bovis, one of the smaller UK-listed house builders, sees its 2011 pre-tax profit in line with expectations while forward sales at the start of January were up 35 per cent year-on-year standing at 568 homes, thanks to a rise in private and social housing reservations.

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“The group can deliver significantly increased profit and, coupled with improving efficiency of capital employed, a stronger return on capital employed in 2012 and beyond,” said chief executive David Ritchie in a statement today.

Larger peers Barratt and Persimmon both said that positive trends in the autumn trading period had continued into the new year, with sales and profits rising, despite little help from overall housing market.

The prospect for homebuyers in the UK however is more bleak, with the number of first-time buyers plummeting to a record low in 2011, despite prices dropping and number of government measures such as FirstBuy and a mortgage guarantee scheme.

Bovis said the average sales price rose 4.5 per cent to £180,100 in 2011.

Shares in Bovis closed at 453.1 pence on Friday, valuing the group at approximately £605m.

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