Dublin and London-listed house builder, Abbey plc, yesterday reported a 33 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of last October.

Abbey said total turnover for the half-year period grew to €93 million from 88 million in 2002. Pre-tax profits grew 33 per cent to 28.8 million in the six months to the end of October 31st from 21.2 million during the same period in 2002.

The company delivered earnings per share (eps) growth of over 40 per cent to 64.95 cent at the half-year stage from 45.34 cent at the same point last year.

The group had 39.9 million in the bank at the end of the six-month period, compared with 45.8 million at the same point in 2002, and €31.5 million at the full-year stage last April.

The company said it intended spending the money on replenishing trading stocks. Abbey declared an interim dividend of 10 cents, a 22 per cent improvement on the same period last year.

A statement from chairman Mr Charles Gallagher said that its house-building division completed 354 sales in the UK and Ireland, generating a turnover of 81.5 million and operating profits of 26.2 million.

"The housing division is on course for significantly more sales in the second half," Mr Gallagher said. "During the period the company added 361 plots with planning permission to its approved land bank. In addition, contracts were exchanged for the purchase of an additional 350 plots subject to the grant of all necessary consents."

Its UK plant hire business, M&J Engineers, posted operating profits of €1.12 million on turnover of 9.9 million. The company said that trading hit a "soft spot" in the autumn following a good start, but a slight improvement in recent weeks suggested the division can deliver a reasonable result at the full year.