Bellway hails recent “encouraging” performance but profit down

Bellway has reported “encouraging” recent trading although for its half year, profit and revenue were notably down, reflecting market conditions.

Issuing its interim results for the six months to January 31 2024, the housebuilder said it had shown resilience while positioning itself for recovery.

Pre-tax profit in the half year dropped 57% against H1 2023 to £134.2 million, with operating profit falling 56% to £139.9 million.

Total revenue decreased 29.6% to £1,273.1 million, mainly due to a lower rate of private reservations the previous year.

Its first half private reservation rate improved 15.4% to 105 per week (2023: 91), representing a rate per outlet per week of 0.43 against H1 2023’s 0.38.

Completions were down 28.1% to 4,092 homes in response to the “generally softer market conditions” since summer 2022 and Bellway’s lower order book as of August 1 2023.

The company also cited challenges in the planning system for its expectation of a volume decrease in the current financial year against “last year’s near-record high”. For full year 2024, it anticipates delivering “around” 7,500 homes against 2023’s 10,945.

Bellway saw a 20.7% improvement in its private reservation rate in the six weeks since February 1 against …