Bellway says market is picking up

Bellway is confident it can build on its success in future

Housebuilder Bellway said a pick up in house sales meant it no longer had to rely as much on sales incentives.

The Tyneside-based firm has reported pre-tax profits of £87.8m ($153m) from a "challenging" half year to the end of January, down 2.1% on 12 months before.

Bellway said its order book remained "extremely strong" at around £715m.

Chairman Howard Dawe said February and March had shown signs of improvement in the market and that they remained "cautiously optmistic".

Bellway said its Scottish, North East and Thames Gateway divisions had thrived.