Bovis Homes Group PLC
Bovis Homes Group PLC
Trading Update
11 January 2006
Bovis Homes Group PLC is today issuing the following update on trading ahead of
reporting the Group's preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2005,
on Monday 13 March 2006.
Legal completions for the year were in line with 2004 with an average sales
price of approximately £175,500. The Group's operating margin has remained
strong and is anticipated to be approximately 23.5% for 2005. The Group's
decision to expand progressively the social and partnership housing business has
proved timely, with legal completions in 2005 almost doubling to 22% of the
Group's total. The increase in social and partnership housing units along with
the Group's focus on delivering smaller more affordable private homes has
generated a notable change in product mix in 2005. The average size of home
legally completed has reduced by 11%. The average sales price per square foot
for private units legally completed in 2005 was 3% higher than 2004.
The base for future trading activity has been improved with the closing land
bank at the end of December 2005 standing at almost 13,000 consented plots,
representing a net increase of approximately 1,500 plots during the year. A
significant proportion of the land added in 2005 was generated from the Group's
strategic land bank at a substantial discount to market value. Notwithstanding
the healthy increase in the Group's consented land bank, the year end gearing
remained low at approximately 10%.
The Group anticipates announcing profits for the 2005 financial year marginally
below the average of brokers' current forecasts. This update follows The Group's
guidance, provided at the time of announcing interim results in September 2005,
which resulted in external market expectations of the Group's profit performance
for 2005 moderating.
Progressive changes to products and processes were implemented during 2005, the
most significant of which was a decision to release products into the
marketplace earlier than before. These changes have delivered positive results.
Sales reservations during the last quarter were good, with cumulative
reservations to the end of 2005 of 3,360 homes, providing a carry forward of 660
sales for 2006, which is a 22% increase over the previous year. Private forward
sales have an average gross margin slightly higher than the gross margin
achieved on private legal completions in 2005.
Whilst it is early for housing market conditions in 2006 to be predicted, based
upon the last quarter of 2005 there are encouraging signs of improving consumer
confidence.
Enquiries: Malcolm Harris, Chief Executive Andrew Best
David Ritchie, Finance Director Share Value Limited
Bovis Homes Group PLC Tel: 020 7321 5022
Tel: 01474 876200/01474 876350
*T
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.