The market seemed little moved by builder Bellway PLC (LSE:BWY)’s departure from the script in the battered housebuilding sector with the shares trading sideways following the announcement of a £100mln stock buyback programme.
Okay, there was the small matter of a 5% decrease in underlying pre-tax profit, which totalled £312.1mln for the six months ended 31 January 2023.
Offsetting any disappointment with the bottom line, Bellway’s chief executive, Jason Honeyman, provided this reasonably upbeat assessment of current trading.
"We have been encouraged by the moderate, yet sustained improvement in reservations since the start of January 2023, and the group remains on track to deliver volume output of around 11,000 homes in the full financial year," he told the market.
Still, this wasn’t enough to get the shares going. They marked time at 2,042p.
Closer inspection of the stock’s movement reveals it has advanced 15% in the year to date, so a lot of the upside in Tuesday’s statement may have already been priced in.
The builder does have a fan in Liberum. “Bellway remains one of our top picks,” the corporate broker said in a short note accompanying the results. It thinks the shares are worth 2,860p.