Scots towns targeted by Bellway to boost sales

City Editor

Wednesday 17 October 2012

HOUSEBUILDER Bellway is bringing in new sites in towns including Motherwell, Dalkeith and East Kilbride as it seeks to boost sales in Scotland following a year in which the south of England drove up profits.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS: Bellway has invested in land in towns near big cities in Scotland so it can build more popular two-storey homes to take advantage of the market.

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TIM SHARP CITY EDITOR

The company sold 5226 homes in the year to the end of July, up from 4922 the previous year.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profit rose 56.7% to £105.3 million as the company benefited from selling greater numbers of houses as opposed to flats and saw higher-margin sites acquired after the financial crisis make more of a contribution.

This was ahead of the £98m of earnings forecast by analysts.Chairman Howard Dawe said: "The growth in both volume and average selling price has been driven by the group's strong performance in the south of the country, particularly in London."The company's southern divisions accounted for 63% of housing turnover in the year, up from 61% in 2011.In the north of England and Scotland, home sales rose by just 30 to 2375.But chief executive John Watson told The Herald the southern bias was largely a feature of the timing of planning permission and sites being developed.He said sales of private homes in the north of England and Scotland was strong but offset by falling housing association purchases."What we have done in Scotland is we have invested in new land. We are bringing in new sites in Motherwell, Kirkliston near Edinburgh, Dalkeith and East Kilbride," he said.The shift to sites in towns near large cities will allow it to build more two-storey homes, the most buoyant part of the market, rather than apartments.Mr Watson said: "We have to bear in mind getting mortgages on apartments on the River Clyde is difficult because people are being asked for 30% deposits."That has pushed the industry, and not just us, to do fewer city apartments."Some 50% of Bellway's sales UK-wide last year were to second-time buyers who typically want houses rather than flats for their growing families. This was up from 43% in 2011.Bellway is participating in the Scottish Government-backed MI New Home scheme, designed to encourage lenders to make home loans.Under the scheme, a housebuilder puts aside some of the sale price for each home into an indemnity fund. If the property is repossessed and sold for less than the amount of the outstanding mortgage within seven years, the lender can recover some of its loss from the fund. Bellway finance director Keith Adey said: "There is a cost to us but we prefer selling property through this new scheme than, say, taking a shared equity product."Bellway has already participated in the version of the scheme operating south of the Border, through which it sold 180 homes last year. UK-wide the average selling price of a Bellway home jumped 6.3% to £186,648, the highest the group has ever achieved.The company said it would increase its final dividend payment by 59% to 14p per share, up from 8.8p last year. Mr Dawes will retire on January 31, to be replaced by Mr Watson.Operations director Ted Ayres will become chief executive. Bellway's shares rose 19.5p or 2.1% to a 52-week high of 969.5p.

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Scots towns targeted by Bellway to boost sales

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