Bovis Homes scraps dividend as sales fall

By Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Bovis Homes (BVS.L) will not pay a final dividend for 2008 and continues to cut jobs as it grapples with what the British housebuilder described as the worst trading conditions in many years.

Bovis said in a trading update on Friday that its pretax profit before exceptional items would be in line with the board's expectations, however.

"The group's priorities over the short term are to maintain its strong balance sheet capability to weather current market conditions in an orderly fashion and be well positioned for any market upturn," it said in a statement.

Looking ahead, Bovis said the outlook for the housing market, combined with that of the wider economy, remained challenging.

"Confidence is low, bad news predominates, and corrective economic actions which have worked historically have not yet seen a positive response," it said.

Bovis said completed sales fell to 1,817 homes during 2008 compared with 2,930 in 2007.

The average sales price fell to 150,800 pounds, down from 179,500 the previous year, partly as a result of an increased proportion of social housing, which now accounts for 33 percent of sales, compared with 22 percent in 2007.

For 2009, Bovis said it had 425 sales reservations at Jan 1, down 48 percent on the same date the previous year.