Bellway provides renewed optimism as it launches placing to buy new sites
HOUSEBUILDER Bellway yesterday supported growing confidence in the housing sector by posting a positive trading update and announced a share placing that aims to raise over £40m to buy new land.
The group yesterday said it placed 5.7m new shares, equivalent to around five per cent of its current issued capital, at 779p, a small discount to yesterday’s share price of 807p.
The £44.8m raising is more than enough to pay of Bellway’s remaining debts of £37m, but the firm said the cash would be used to make investments in land at the bottom of the market.
Bellway reported a “stabilisation in demand for new homes, with the southern region stronger than the north.” The group yesterday said as a result of the pick-up in activity it was looking to increase its spend on working development sites.
During the course of the year, the housebuilder completed the sale of 4,380 homes against 6,556 the year before. The average selling price was around £154,000, down 9.3 per cent from the year before’s price.