Lovely looking chart with uptrend channel in place.



Brokers in the main like the company....

Bellway PLC

FORECASTS
2009 2010

Date Rec Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax () EPS (p) DPS (p)

Panmure Gordon
03-03-09 HOLD 28.55 17.84 8.00 13.71 8.57 8.00

Arbuthnot Securities
02-03-09 BUY 38.50 33.60 8.00 29.00 25.31 5.00

Collins Stewart
24-02-09 HOLD

Numis Securities Ltd
20-02-09 BUY 40.00 25.70 12.00 31.00 19.70 12.

Interim Management Statement.

At the time of its annual results' announcement on 18 October 2011, the Group
outlined its continuing strategy of increasing volumes, raising average selling
prices through changes in mix and achieving margin growth. We have continued
to deliver this strategy despite the ongoing concerns over financial markets
and their implications for the UK economy. Visitor levels and reservations
have been remarkably resilient, with the latter having increased by some 14%
when compared to the same period last year. The average selling price of these
reservations has increased by almost 7%, reflecting the continuing changes in
mix.

The Group continues to utilise a variety of incentives to secure sales, however
encouragingly, the use of shared equity as an incentive has reduced to less
than 5% of reservations in the period compared to 10% last year. In contrast
the part exchange of customers' existing homes is used in an increasing number
of transactions.

Bellway says customers shrugging off the gloom


{ Emma Rowley, 18:53, Friday 9 December 2011, Bellway offered an upbeat view of the housing market as it reported a "surprising" rise in sales, suggesting Britons are shrugging of the economic gloom to "get on with their lives".

The housebuilder said reservations sales which have not completed were up 14pc over August to November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) compared to a year earlier.

Within that time period, sales accelerated from an average 85 a week in the first half to 104 a week in the second. The figure would normally drop off as winter approaches, Bellway said.

"We've been surprised in the market over the last nine weeks," said Alistair Leitch, Bellway's finance director. "What we'd have expected is for it to be probably the other way round, for [activity] to quieten off, but it's actually picked up.

"It's remarkably resilient against the backdrop that we've got going on at the moment in the world economy."

He suggested that "the Great British public think, 'I have got to get on with my life.' What we've got is a 'needs' market, of people who have to move house."

The new build market is not necessarily synonymous with the wider housing market, he cautioned, as developers may sell for what they can get while individual owners sit tight.

However, Mike Bessell at Evolution Securities was cheered that the eurozone crisis is not hitting housing activity, suggesting the UK market has reached its "nadir" and will not slow further.

Bellway used to be focused on first-time buyers but has shifted its attention away from their fodder of town and city apartments, as tighter mortgage lending has shut first-time buyers out of the housing market.

Focusing on more expensive family houses helped the company raise its dividend by 30pc in October, after seeing a 51pc rise in full-year profits. For the six months to the end of January, Bellway expects legal completions to be up 5pc.

While it welcomed Government initiatives to boost the housing sector, such as the newly-unveiled mortgage indemnity scheme, Bellway said that the full year will hinge on consumer confidence, especially during the spring selling season.

Shares in Bellway rose 20.5 to 749p.

Friday 8th June - Housebuilder Bellway reported a strong set of half-year results in March and the company is expected to point to further growth in a trading update. It should have benefited in the quarter the three months to the end of April from the rush among first-time buyers to take advantage of a stamp duty holiday which ended on March 24. The City will also be looking for signs of a boost from the Government’s “NewBuy” scheme, designed to drive sales of new build homes by helping buyers with smaller deposits. Bellway previously reported that it had secured 30 reservations under the scheme in its first two weeks. After reporting a 69pc rise in pre-tax profits to £40.6m in the first half, analysts expect the Newcastle based company to report pre-tax profits of around £90m in the full year to July 31, which would represent an increase of about a third.

Housebuilder Bellway enjoys resilient spring selling season
StockMarketWire.com
Housebuilder Bellway said today that demand throughout the seventeen week spring selling season has remained resilient with visitor levels and reservation rates continuing to outperform expectations.

Reservations during the period, net of cancellations, have averaged 122 per week, an increase of 9% on the prior year. The increase in the private weekly sales rate is more marked at 19%, having been attained from an average of 210 sites, compared to 195 last year.

Whilst sales incentives continue to be used, the enhanced reservation rate has been achieved despite continuing to restrict the use of shared equity, which represented only 8% of reservations taken. The Group welcomes the introduction of the Government's NewBuy mortgage indemnity guarantee scheme which has contributed 90 reservations in the eleven weeks since its launch. The longer term success of this initiative will depend upon the approach of lenders to mortgage rates and credit scoring criteria and to this extent, it will be some months before the Group is able to determine whether NewBuy will have any incremental effect on sales rates.

The target set at the beginning of the financial year of achieving 5% volume growth is now secure, subject to build delivery, and the Board is therefore confident that legal completions for the year ending 31 July 2012 should exceed those achieved last year by around 300 units. In addition, some 1,600 reservations have been taken for completion in 2012/13.

The average selling price in respect of reservations taken since 1 February is £190,400, an increase of 5% compared to the same period last year. The increase is primarily due to a combination of the ongoing contribution of higher value units from the Group's divisions which have exposure to the London market, together with a greater proportion of private reservations.

Operating margins continue to improve as the Group remains focussed on cost control and replenishing the land bank with new sites. An increasing proportion of completions from these new sites, where margins are typically in excess of 20%, should now result in the Group producing an operating margin of at least 11% for the full year.

The Group's land teams have continued to be active in the market, having expended £195 million on land and land creditors and having agreed heads of terms on a further 4,800 plots. The Group continues to adopt a disciplined approach to land buying by focussing on return on capital and margin whilst remaining mindful of local market and employment conditions. The Group had net bank debt of £35 million at 31 May and depending upon the profile of land opportunities over the coming weeks, the Board anticipates a modest level of gearing at the year end.

Assuming consumer demand and the availability of affordable mortgage finance remain unchanged, then the Group's capacity to grow geographically, combined with a strong balance sheet, mean that Bellway is well positioned to continue its three pronged strategy of increasing volume, average selling price and operating margin.

Preliminary Results

HIGHLIGHTS

§ Number of homes sold increased to 5,226 (2011 - 4,922)

§ Average selling price increased to £186,648 (2011 - £175,613)

§ Total Group turnover increased to £1,004.2m (2011 - £886.1m)

§ Operating margin increased to 11.4% (2011 - 8.5%)

§ Profit before tax increased by 57% to £105.3m (2011 - £67.2m)

§ Earnings per share increased by 58% to 65.5p (2011 - 41.5p)

§ Total dividend increased by 60% to 20.0p (2011 - 12.5p)

§ Net asset value increased to 933p (2011 - 888p)

Mind the gap.

AGM Statement

At today's AGM, the Chairman, Mr Howard Dawe, made the following statement:-

"In the short period since the Interim Management Statement (IMS) on 7
December, reservations have remained in line with expectations. The Group
therefore starts the calendar year with 76% of its current year target secure
and assuming the usual pattern of reservations throughout the spring selling
season, the Board, as previously indicated, anticipates that completions will
increase by around 5% for the full year. In addition, the Board expects that
completions for the half year ending 31 January 2013 will also increase by
around 5%.

I am pleased that the final dividend of 14.0 pence per ordinary share has been
approved and this will be paid to shareholders on 16 January 2013, thereby
bringing the total dividend in respect of the year ended 31 July 2012 to 20.0
pence per ordinary share, representing an increase of 60% compared to the prior
year.

A pre-close Trading Update will be issued on Thursday 7 February following the
conclusion of the six month trading period ending 31 January 2013.

As previously announced, I will be retiring as non-executive Chairman on 31
January 2013 and would like to thank the Board, our employees and all connected
with Bellway for their tremendous support throughout my 51 years of service
with the Group."

Bellway going like the clappers
10:56 am by John Harrington The operating margin continues to advance, primarily due to the increasing proportion of completions arising from higher margin land, acquired since the downturn. As a result, the board expects that the operating margin will continue to improve throughout the rest of the financial year.

Bellway (LON:BWY) rose to a 52-week high this morning after a trading update revealed a 2.3% rise in the average selling price of its houses.

The house builder completed the sale of 2,597 homes in the six months to the end of January, up 5.8% from 2,455 in the same period a year earlier.

The average selling price (ASP) of homes sold increased by 2.3% to £187,000 from £182,753 the year before. The increase was ascribed to continuing changes in product and geographic mix.

The board anticipates that the average selling price will continue its upward trend for the remainder of this financial year.

Broker Panmure Gordon acknowledged the strong trading update but said solid growth in units, price and margin against the backdrop of relatively stagnant market condition is the case throughout the house building sector.

As a result, the broker reckons with the shares trading at a premium to the sector’s price/net asset value (NAV) ratio, “the valuation looks up with events”.

Panmure Gordon’s ‘hold’ recommendation and 1063p price target remain unchanged.

“The outlook for the business is relativity positive in our view with continued growth forecast in unit completions, ASPs (on mix) and net margin. However, the pace of underlying growth in unit completions on a per site per week basis is low, and underlying prices are stagnant (growth is currently mix-driven) so we are not seeing anything at Bellway that we are not seeing elsewhere in the sector at present. The margin will continue to progress due to the replacement of old low margin land with new higher margin land,” Panmure Gordon said.

“Weekly sales reservations stood at 97 compared to 89 a year ago – the driver being site growth. We consider this a healthy position for the company to be in going into the important Spring selling season,” the broker added.

Shares in Bellway were up 3.4% to 1,160p in mid-morning

Great results. Thank you Bellway.

Bellway: UBS raises target price from 1100p to 1270p and upgrades to buy.

Sold my holding, been in since OCT 2011 at 6.75p :-))

Well done DC - r u selling up and moving on?

Leaving on a jet plane don't know when I'll be back again. lol

No, lol. I have some very good profits sitting in some of these. I saw in IC today they are starting to question is the boom to come to an end ?

As posted, last week I sold out of NMX3720 which I'd been long since August - at about the current level, as it had had a near vertical rise.

Lets hope we are both wrong and the sector continues up.

I see in IC - st Modwen and Intu properties raised cash on the markets. As IC says its only a trickle but does not want to turn into a torrent. Lets hope we are wrong skinny.

Looking at your posting about hose builder holdings, you might want to look at the Household Goods & Home Construction constituents which is an easy way of exposure to the sector.

Thanks skinny.

Interim Results

Operational Highlights

§ 2,597 homes sold (2012 - 2,455) - up 5.8%
§ Average selling price increased to £187,426 (2012 - £182,753) - up 2.6%
§ Land investment increased to £145 million (2012 - £105 million)
§ Land bank increased to 32,025 plots (31 July 2012 - 31,136 plots)
§ Low net bank debt of £75.4 million representing gearing of only 6.5%
§ 94% of current full year volume target reserved or legally completed

Interim Management Statement

Market

The Group's performance since the beginning of the second half of the financial
year has been encouraging, with strong consumer demand for new homes. Wider
accessibility to affordable, higher loan to value mortgages has led to visitor
numbers and reservations being ahead of expectations and these have been
further enhanced by an increase in the number of active sales outlets.

Trading

Reservations since 1 February have averaged 160 per week, a 31% increase
compared with the same period last year and there has been an improvement in
customer interest since the launch of the government's Help to Buy scheme on 1
April.

Bellway's previous restriction on the use of shared equity incentives has now
been lifted due to the introduction of full government funding for Help to Buy
shared equity loans. Whilst lenders' credit scoring procedures remain robust,
Help to Buy continues to gather momentum, having been used in some 360
reservations. The Board is therefore hopeful that this initial momentum since
launch can be maintained as more lenders begin to offer this product.

The average selling price of reservations has increased as a result of changes
in product mix, although on certain new sites, especially in the south, prices
achieved have been modestly above management's expectations. As a result, the
average selling price of reservations taken since 1 February is £200,300, some
5% ahead compared to the same period last year. It is anticipated that this
increase will mainly benefit the average selling price of completions in the
next financial year.

Land

The Group has continued to invest in new land where the gross margin meets its
acquisition criteria of at least 20% and in doing so has expended £270 million
on land and land creditors since 1 August. In addition, the Group has heads of
terms agreed on a further 4,900 plots.

The Group had net bank debt of £95 million at 31 May and remains well
positioned to continue its investment in land, provided opportunities continue
to offer attractive rates of return. Bellway retains its ability to be
selective in its approach to site acquisitions with the required land already
in place to meet the Group's growth aspirations for the next financial year,
together with a strong pipeline of land progressing through the planning
system.

Outlook

As a result of its investment in land, Bellway is now operating from 223 sites
(2012 - 213 sites) and the Board therefore expects that approximately two
thirds of completions in the year ending 31 July 2013 will arise from land
acquired since the downturn. This should result in the Group achieving around a
200 basis point improvement in the operating margin, compared to the 11.4%
achieved last year.

Subject to construction delivery, Bellway has already secured its initial
target of increasing volumes by at least 5% and the Board therefore now expects
to increase the number of legal completions by around 7% in the year ending 31
July 2013. Furthermore, the Group has reservations in place with a value of £
380 million for completion in the next financial year (2012 - £270 million).

The Board is encouraged by the gradual improvement in market conditions and is
hopeful that this will facilitate further organic growth through geographic
expansion. Given recent history and the wider economic uncertainties, a
disciplined approach to land investment will be maintained, thereby leading to
a sustainable enhancement in shareholder return.