In the year to 31st July 2015 Bellway made a pre-tax profit of 拢354.2m (2014: 拢246.0m) on revenue up 19% to 拢1,765.4m (2014: 拢1,484.8m).
It sold 7,752 new homes during the year, a 13% increase on the previous year and topping its previous record of 7,638 homes set in 2007.
Return on capital employed reached 23.9% (2014: 19.6%).
To support continued growth, Bellway opened a new South West division, based in Bristol, in February 2015 and has subsequently opened its 17th operating division, located in Kings Hill, Kent, in August 2015.聽
Bellway has spent 拢620m on buying land during the year pushing up its owned and controlled land holdings to 36,211 plots.
Much publicised industry shortages of skilled labour and material are under control, chief executive Ted Ayres said.
He said: 鈥淭here remain constraints regarding the availability of certain labour trades, with these pressures continuing to be most pronounced in and around the southeast of the country.聽 Notwithstanding this, the rate of increase in subcontract costs has reached a more modest level.聽 Strong divisional relationships assist the group in securing continuity of labour and overall, we have managed our construction plans in such a way that there have been only limited delays.鈥�
Of materials, he added: 鈥淭here is still some inevitable, industry-wide upward pressure on material costs, most notably for bricks, blocks and some timber products. These cost increases are beginning to abate and are well controlled, with the vast majority of materials subject to group procurement arrangements.鈥�
Chairman John Watson said: 鈥淭he outlook remains positive and the strength of the forward order book should enable the group to achieve volume growth of up to 10% in the current financial year."
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