Bellway delays decision on dividend; warns of 'substantial' disruption due to Covid-19 as profit falls

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Homebuilder Bellway delayed its decision to pay an interim dividend and warned of a 'substantial' disruption due to Covid-19 pandemic after reporting a fall in profit as margins slipped offset a climb in revenue.

'There is a significant risk to production capability and customer demand in the weeks and months ahead,' the company said. 'The outlook will be determined by the U.K.'s ability to recover from the threat posed by Covid-19,' it added.

The decision to pay an interim dividend would be postponed until later in the calendar year, when there was more certainty regarding the economic outlook, Bellway said.

For the six months ended 31 March 2020, pre-tax profit fell 7% to £291.8m on-year as revenue rose 3.6% to £1.54bn. The rise in revenue was boosted by a 6.3% rise in housing completions to a record 5,321 homes.

The operating margin fell to 19.3% from 21.5%, in line with expectations, to a more normalised level.

At 8:25am: (LON:BWY) Bellway PLC share price was -120.75p at 1950.25p