Bovis sees strong run continuing this year

LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Bovis Homes (LSE: BVS.L - news) said it expected its strong run to continue this year after confirming that it was on track to post a 68 percent growth in profit for 2014, in line with market expectations.

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

"Subject to market conditions being similar to 2014, we expect to deliver further growth in revenue and profit, giving rise to further improvement in returns in 2015," Chief Executive David Ritchie said in a statement on Thursday.

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

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