SALISBURY house builder Westbury Homes has boosted half-year profits to £24.6 million, reflecting a 24 per cent increase over the same time last year.

Turnover grew from £193.9 million to £226 million over the same period.

"Our commitment to focusing on the needs of our customers is central to our success and these results show that our policy of combining quality with good value continues to benefit everybody,'' said Richard Terry, managing director for Westbury Homes' regional organisation.

"We are making steady improvements to the specification and range of our new homes as well as developing some new designs which are extremely popular.''

The company is now the sixth largest house builder in the UK, completing more than 4,200 homes in 1998.

A £155 million refinancing package has been arranged to fund the company's future growth. Westbury currently controls enough land to build more than 23,000 homes with planning permission granted on 12,600 plots.

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