LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - British house builder TaylorWimpey said on Wednesday it would return more money toshareholders after it built up its land bank in the first halfand was boosted by strong demand in the property market.
The group, which pre-announced its results earlier thismonth, posted a 64 percent jump in adjusted pretax profit to178.4 million pounds for the six months to June 29, and said itwould increase its payout to shareholders by 50 million poundsto 250 million pounds in 2015.
Chief Executive Pete Redfern said the group, which sold5,766 homes in the period, 11 percent more than a year ago, hadinvested significantly in land.
"The landbank has grown by about 10,000 plots over the last12 months, with the biggest element of that over the last sixmonths," he said in an interview on Wednesday.
"With a combination of an improved financial performance inthe short term, and the fact that in the first half of 2014 wehave got to the level of land that we think is the rightstrategic level for the business, we feel it's right to increaseour planned cash return for 12 months from now."
Shares in Taylor Wimpey were trading up 1.8 percent to 116.7pence.
Analyst Gavin Jago at Peel Hunt said that with the capitalreturn, the shares offered a yield of about 7.5 percent fromnext year.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young)
Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
