22nd Feb 2016 07:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Bovis Homes Group PLC on Monday said both its pretax profit and revenue rose in 2015, after selling more homes at a higher average price.
The FTSE 250-listed housebuilder said it sold 3,934 homes in the year to the end of December, up 8.0% year-on-year, at an average selling price of GBP231,600, up from GBP216,600. Bovis said its operating margin improved to over 17%, which should result in its return on capital employed for the year rising to over 18% from 16.2% in 2014.
Bovis increased its full-year dividend to 40.0 pence from 35.0p in 2014.
Bovis said the cost of building new homes is expected to increase further due to ongoing constants in labour supply. However, the housebuilder said it expects growth in gross profit margin for 2016, due to a larger number of new higher profit margin sites in its portfolio.
Bovis added it expects to deliver sustainable growth over the next few years to achieve annual volumes of between 5,000 and 6,000 new homes. The group starts 2016 with 2,003 total reservations on its books, up 14% year-on-year.
"While it has been a time of operational challenge with fast moving market conditions, we are delivering our strategic growth plan and have evolved our management and business structure at the start of 2016 to support further growth," said Chief Executive David Ritchie.
"Assuming market conditions remain stable we are confident in our ability to improve return on capital employed further in 2016," Ritchie added.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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