Bellway sees 20 pct rise in interim pretax profits

British homebuilder Bellway Plc sees pretax profits to rise by up to 20 percent for the first half to end January, saying home reservations taken are ahead of its expectations.

The group said it currently has 3,614 sales secured for this financial year and a further 400 for the next financial year. The average sale price is 8.4 percent higher at 167,600 pounds.

The decline in consumer confidence appears to have levelled out and encouragingly, people are still committing to purchase even at this time of year, Bellway said.

The fall in consumer confidence ahead of government spending cuts and the lack of mortgage availability has affected the housing market recovery in the UK.

The company said it is currently well positioned in what continues to be a tough and testing market for UK housebuilding.

For the full year, Bellway said the outcome will be greatly dependent on the level of consumer confidence during the 2011 spring selling season.

Last week, rival Berkeley Group Holdings gave an upbeat forecast, saying it was confident of outperforming its full-year expectations as it reported a 18.5 percent rise in interim pretax profit on higher house sales.

Shares of Bellway closed Monday's trading at 558 pence on the London Stock Exchange.