Taylor Wimpey : British homebuilder Taylor Wimpey reports small drop in first-half profit

(Reuters) - Britain's third-largest homebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc on Wednesday forecast a fall in full-year margins and reported a small drop in first-half pretax profit, as it was hit by higher costs.

High demand for materials amid a buildup of buffer stocks in the industry has pushed housebuilders, including Taylor Wimpey, to warn on rising costs.

"In this environment where pricing is flat, and there is increased build cost pressure, our margins will be lower in 2019 than in 2018," the company said in a statement.

Taylor Wimpey, however, said it expects full-year results to be in line with expectations and declared a special dividend of about 11 pence per share for 2020.

The FTSE 100 housebuilder said total order book value stood at 2.37 billion pounds as at June 30, while it sold 6,497 homes during the period.

(Reporting by Samantha Machado in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)