recommended by the fleet street group,it looks promising!

Interesting day for housebuilders, the shares are up on the back of Berkeley results. Havent read them yet - will do later and post my thoughts!

Yes little increase for BVS and others, looked at the spreadsheet, really helpful data, cheers,

Amber

Well, it's flying today!

And again today. Everyone else seems to have lost interest but Bovis is bucking the trend at present and doing very nicely I feel.

Flying today too - whats the news anyone?

News seems to be take over talk in the sector, with Persimmon rumoured to be interested in Westbury. Bovis identified as favourable target as well

A good home for your money at present then!

Hi queen1 and g64946 (whom I very pleased to meet) - all the nicest people on the nicest threads.

Yes BVS has been steaming ahead in recent weeks - long may it continune. I concur with take over theories, but also on fundamentals it is a cheap stock even at this level. P/E of 7.62 and Yield of 3.2% for 2005 - it's one of those long term value growing income shares that recent reports have been stating give you a much higher return over 10years+ than chasing high growth low/no income stocks.

This one will chug away until I retire I hope (many, many years, in case you're asking!)

SD

Stockdog - It's a pleasure to be complimented by you! If BVS were to be targeted (which, let's face it has been part of the attraction for some time now), what price do you think a potential buyer would need to pitch at to ensure success?

queen1 - not a clue, but I assume it's higher than current price by, say, 25%.

The other way is to look at the P/E for the Construction seector and/or the FTSE250 and muliply the SP by this divided by the BVS P/E - a measure of what SP brings the share into line with the prevailing market = plus a small premium on top for the value of good management being acquired?? Sorry, not time to reseach this statistic just now. If you find it let me know - useful guide to when SP becomes fully valued with no takeover materialising.

Do you remember that old TV commercial they used to do - "Bloody long way for a brick!"

SD

Thanks stockdog. No, don't remember that one. Was it anything to do with "Shake 'n' Vac"? Now that was an advert! Or was it the little kid walking up and down the hill in the Northern mining village for a loaf of bread....Ah, that'll be Hovis. Almost!

That's the one - always get it wrong!

SD

In answer to the first post on this thread - yes, it's flying.

Don't think we could have asked for more than this from a company in a sector supposed to be entering recession (which builders of new homes are not, by the way - that's the secondary market that's nose-diving).

Good results and 22% hike in the dividend, plus promise to double the divvy over 4 years - a perfect lockaway stock if ever I saw one. Panmure Gordon raises its target from 750 to 800.

SD


AFX announcement today. See RNS for full accounts.

Bovis Homes commits to doubling div over 4 years as FY pretax rises - UPDATE

(Adds further detail and comment from results statement)

LONDON (AFX) - House builder Bovis Homes Group PLC said it plans to double its annual dividend over the next four years with an annual increase of 5 pence a share.

The news accompanied the group's results for the year to Dec 31, which showed pretax profits of 145.2 mln stg, up 18 pct from 123 mln stg a year earlier as turnover from continuing operations rose to 559.5 mln stg from 478.4 mln.

"The group has delivered a year of record profits with a 9 pct increase in the volume of legal completions and resultant strong cash flow," said chief executive Malcolm Harris.

"The stability of base interest rates since August 2004 has assisted consumer confidence and visitor numbers and reservations in early 2005 have been encouraging," he said. "The group is well positioned and, assuming an ongoing stable economic environment, the board is confident of the prospects for the group in 2005."

At the per share level, earnings rose 17.3 pct to 87 pence from 74.2 pence last time.

The group also announced a 22 pct increase in its annual dividend to 20 pence a share, with the final payout set at 13.6 pence.

In the latest year, the group's operating margin edged down to 26.7 pct from 27 pct a year earliern but the return on average capital employed edged up to 25.7 pct from 25.5 pct.

newsdesk@afxnews.com

I agree Stockdog, an excellent long-term investment with the potential for bids along the way. Shame more investors on the BBs aren't interested but then it's not a potential 10-bagger, blue-sky, share-of-a-lifetime opportunity!

Not been on this thread for an awfully long time! SP has taken a hit the last couple of months but encouraging signs at the moment. Has some good momentum building up and even today's poor figures from McCarthy & Stone didn't stop it ticking up again. Good times could be now.

Well it's flying now!!!

...Higher and higher!!!

Wow! Up over 4% today and broken its highs. Where to now I wonder?!!

a bid maybe??? one can hope.

Well it's long been a prime candidate if the sector really consolidated which is another reason for holding the shares.