Housebuilder Bellway predicted its full-year profit would be “modestly” ahead of forecasts yesterday as it unveiled a management succession reshuffle that will see its chief executive replace its retiring chairman.
The group said it expects to report a full-year pre-tax profit above £98 million after it sold more homes at higher prices.
Non-executive chairman Howard Dawe, who has been with the company for 50 years, is to retire on 31 January, while current chief executive John Watson will take his place. Current operations director Ted Ayres, who joined the company ten years ago, will become chief executive.
In a trading update, the group said it sold 5,226 homes in the year, up more than 6 per cent from a year earlier. The average selling price rose 6 per cent to £187,000.
Bellway, along with larger rivals Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey, is benefiting from a dearth of available new homes in the UK and government schemes to spur the market.
The scheme, known as NewBuy, allows lenders to provide 95 per cent mortgages on newly built properties worth up to £500,000 with guarantees from the government and developers to help new buyers, who have been frozen out of the market since the 2008 financial crisis.
The housebuilder said the scheme contributed 133 reservations since its launch mid-March.
The company’s order book also grew 3.4 per cent to £441.2m, or 2,533 homes.
Bellway’s shares fell 11.5p to close at 825p.