2024-03-26 12:54:01 ET
Bellway p.l.c. (BLWYF)
Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call
March 26, 2024 05:00 ET
Company Participants
Jason Honeyman - Chief Executive
Keith Adey - Group Finance Director
Conference Call Participants
Chris Millington - Deutsche Numis
Aynsley Lammin - Investec
Ami Galla - Citi
Will Jones - Redburn Atlantic
Glynis Johnson - Jefferies
Marcus Cole - UBS
Presentation
Jason Honeyman
Good morning and welcome to Bellway's Half Year Results. Some positive news to discuss on trading and growth outlook. But first, a few key highlights from the first half. We have delivered another credible operational performance despite a challenging market and from a significantly lower order book. Housing completions closed at 4,092 homes. Underlying PBT was £134 million. Dividend at £0.16 is around 1/3 of the estimated full year return and reflective of our previously guided 2.5x cover. And notably, our balance sheet remains robust with a healthy WIP position and capital to invest in land.
Now trading conditions have markedly improved since I last reported at our prelims in October. And you may recall at our prelims that I suggested FY'24 was going to be tough and there was room for optimism in FY'25. And that story is very much playing out with the exception it's happening sooner than we envisaged. Improved affordability has led to an early pickup in sales in January and ahead of the usual spring recovery. And as a consequence, that has reinforced our optimism and our prospects for a return to growth. We are seeing good levels of customer inquiries, higher reservation rates and healthy demand for energy-efficient new homes.
Operationally, despite the planning system, we can deliver meaningful growth next year. And the reasons behind my optimism, my confidence, we already have the land in place with the benefit of DPP. Outlet numbers and order book are both on track to grow again this year. And we have a healthy WIP position to meet the improvement in customer demand. And given these strengths and assuming market conditions remain stable, we are well placed to grow in '25 and beyond....
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Bellway p.l.c. (BLWYF) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript