Bellway PLC (LSE:BWY) profits more than doubled in the year to end July even though the housebuilder set aside a further £52mln for removing cladding from high rise developments.
Pre-tax profits rose by 102% to £479mln, with the underlying outturn close to market forecasts of £533mln.
Revenues for the year rose 40% to £3.1bn, which had already been indicated, with margins at 17%, again something that had been flagged previously.
Average weekly private reservations were 169, an increase of 19.9% compared to the prior year and 5.6% ahead of financial year 2019.
The dividend goes up by 135% and Bellway ended the year with net cash of £330mln even though it bought a record 19,819 land plots during the year.
After the latest addition, provisions for cladding removal and fire safety issues total £165mln since 2017.
In the current year, Bellway said shortages of materials are constraining building work and while 'manageable' at the present, output in the first half of the financial year 2022 is likely to remain similar to a year ago.
The group added it had sold forward properties worth £1.97bn at an average price of £295,000, which is lower than the year just ended due to changes in the product mix ahead of the end of help-to-buy, it said.
Reservations had remained strong in the first nine weeks of this new financial year, with overall weekly reservations at 218 per week compared with 239 a year ago, when demand was elevated after the first lockdown and 183 per week in 2019.
As a result, the board expects the group to increase output by around 10% to over 11,100 new homes with growth weighted towards the second half of the financial year.
Land plot sales prices will also be lower this year than in 2021 at £280,000 (compared to £306,479) to offset any dip with the end of help-to-buy.