Bovis sees strong run continuing this year

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Bovis Homes said it expected its strong run to continue this yearafter confirming that it was on track to post a 68 percentgrowth in profit for 2014, in line with market expectations.

Analysts expect Bovis to post pretax profit of 133 millionpounds ($202.39 million) for 2014, according to a ThomsonReuters consensus forecast, compared to the 79 million pounds itmade last year.

"Subject to market conditions being similar to 2014, weexpect to deliver further growth in revenue and profit, givingrise to further improvement in returns in 2015," Chief ExecutiveDavid Ritchie said in a statement on Thursday.

Bovis, which has focused on more affluent regions in thesouth of England in recent years, also said it would pay a finaldividend for 2014 of 23 pence per share, in line with itsalready announced intention to raise its full-year payout by 169percent.

Profit growth in 2014 was driven by a rise in the number ofcompletions to 3,635 for the year from 2,813 the year before anda rise in the average sales price. ($1 = 0.6572 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Li-mei Hoang)