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* TW, Vistry to reopen construction sites
* TW's order book rises, says demand remains strong
* Today's statements gives us lots to be positive about -
Jefferies
* Shares of TW and Vistry rise 7% and 6%, respectively
(Adds details on housing market, share move, analysts comments)
By Samantha Machado
April 23 (Reuters) - Two of Britain's best known
homebuilders said on Thursday they were planning to restart
construction work in the next two weeks, offering hope to
thousands of contractors and suppliers whose business has been
crippled by Britain's coronavirus lockdown.
Taylor Wimpey, said on Thursday it was confident of
restarting work on its construction sites on May 4 and has
continued to sell houses online during the lockdown, posting
solid year-on-year growth in orders.
Smaller peer Vistry, formerly known as Bovis Homes,
said that it expected 90% of its sites to be back at work as
early as next Monday.
Shares in Taylor Wimpey jumped 7% to 144.5 pence, while
Vistry gained 6% after the news.
Although work on building sites had not been barred in
Britain, many companies shut down their construction sites last
month due to onsite difficulties with social distancing, which
made operations unviable.
Across all sectors of the economy, companies have been
scrambling to cope, with many scrapping dividend payments,
pulling back guidance and drawing down credit facilities to
preserve cash.
"The return to production is earlier, the order book more
robust, the balance sheets more resilient - the statements from
Taylor Wimpey and Vistry today appear to give us lots to be
positive about", brokerage Jefferies said.
Britain's housing market, widely seen as an important
indicator of consumer confidence and spending, has been brought
to a virtual halt by the coronavirus lockdowns, with the
government advising against new sales, and pricing websites
saying it is almost impossible to measure current rates.
Taylor Wimpey said online sales had helped it increase its
order book.
"We are still seeing continued demand for our homes and our
sales teams have been selling homes remotely, and digitally,
week to week," CEO Pete Redfern said.
The company, which competes with Barratt Developments
and Persimmon completed 2,271 homes, a 14.1%
fall for the 16-week period ending April 19, while its order
book value stood at about 2.7 million pounds, compared with 2.4
million pounds, last year.
(Reporting by Samantha Machado in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna
Chandra Eluri and Carmel Crimmins)
