2nd UPDATE: Bovis Enters Land Market With Cash, New Facility
15 Gennaio 2010 - 12:36PM
Dow Jones News
U.K. house builder Bovis Homes Group PLC (BVS.LN) Friday said it
plans to be "quite assertive" in the land market in 2010 following
a quiet year for construction, but said it expects 2010 to be
another subdued year for sales as mortgage approval volumes slowly
rise.
Bovis said it has now has credit approval, subject to
documentation, for a replacement GBP150 million syndicated facility
which would mature in September 2013 and be more affordable than
the current deal. Bovis said that this facility, added to its net
cash of GBP113 million, would allow it to be an attractive land
buyer in the market.
The company, which spent 2009 selling stock with little building
work going on, said it re-entered the residential land market in
the latter part of 2009, and has already acquired four sites with
terms agreed in principle on a further 15 sites.
Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires, Chief Executive David Ritchie
said it was Bovis' ambition to entice land vendors with more
guaranteed cash up front. Housebuilders don't usually pay
landowners cash up front, instead deferring payments over a period
of time; Bovis still plans to defer some payments to land vendors,
who have been reluctant to sell their land at current, lower
prices.
He added on a conference call with analysts that Bovis'
overheads would have to increase as it replaces the land buying
team it laid off in 2008 and hires specialist technical support. It
will also look to bring back bonuses.
Bovis said it expects 2009 pretax profit before exceptional
items to be in line with the board's expectations, but it didn't
say what these were. However on the conference call Finance
Director Neil Cooper said the most recent market figure was around
GBP7 million.
The company said that at the end of 2009 it had net cash of
GBP113 million compared with net debt of GBP108 million a year
earlier. The end figure was considerably above the GBP90.6 million
estimate from analysts at Panmure Gordon, who kept their "buy"
rating following the update.
Bovis said it legally completed the sale of 1,803 homes in 2009,
similar to the 1,817 in 2008. Of these, 1,527 were private homes--a
25% rise on 2008--although the average sale price of these houses
fell to GBP165,500 from GBP181,000.
At the end of 2009, the company's sales order book for 2010
totaled 643 homes for delivery--some 218 homes more than at the
same time a year earlier.
Following the update, Numis moved to an "add" rating from
"hold", pointing to the credit approval on a new financing
facility. "In our opinion [this] has been one of the key negatives
surrounding the stock and this news should be seen as a positive,"
said Numis.
FinnCap's Les Kent kept a "buy" rating on the stock following
the update, saying that while mortgage liquidity is still low and
there are employment worries in the market, Bovis is "one of the
best placed" for the main recovery, likely to take place in
2011.
However, KBC Peel Hunt's Robin Hardy stuck with a "sell" rating,
saying Bovis looks expensive and it was cautious on the
outlook.
At 1103 GMT, shares were down 12.8 pence, or 2.8%, at 441.3
pence, while the wider FTSE All-Share was up 0.2%.
Bovis will post its 2009 results March 8.
Company Web site: www.bovishomes.co.uk
-By Rachael Gormley, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9308;
rachael.gormley@dowjones.com
Grafico Azioni Vistry (LSE:VTY)
Storico
Da Giu 2024 a Lug 2024
Grafico Azioni Vistry (LSE:VTY)
Storico
Da Lug 2023 a Lug 2024