Turnover for the six months to 31 January 2012 was up 12% to £458.6m (H1 2011: £407.9m).
Pre-tax profit was up 69% to £40.6m (H1 2011: £24.0m).
The operating margin reached 10.1%.
The improved profitability was attributed to a greater proportion of homes sold on land that was bought after the 2007/08 downturn.
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Bellway completed the sale of 2,455 homes in the first half (H1 2011: 2,332 units) and further growth is planned.
Howard Dawe said: “The group has continued cautiously investing in both land and work in progress to achieve its strategy of volume growth. As a result, the group spent £105m on land and land creditors and has terms agreed on a further 4,600 plots as at 31 January 2012. With net bank debt of £11.6m, representing negligible gearing of just over 1% and committed bank facilities of £300m, the group has the capacity to continue to deliver on-going volume growth.”
He added: “Whilst uncertainties in the wider economy and the threat of unemployment continue, there remains an underlying demand for our homes and, as a consequence, visitor levels since the start of the calendar year have followed their usual upward seasonal trend. The availability of affordable, higher loan to value mortgage products has so far remained restricted. We are, however, hopeful that the government's NewBuy initiative will assist in underpinning future sales rates, although this is unlikely to have any significant effect on the number of completions for the current financial year.
“Bellway's strong balance sheet provides capacity to grow and means it has the flexibility to continue its disciplined investment in attractive land opportunities. The group therefore intends to continue its three-pronged strategy of delivering volume, selling price and operating margin growth, thereby achieving a sustainable improvement in shareholder return.”
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