Oh dear, two large companies combine and, like an intergalactic "event" only negative matter remains....a case of 1 + 1 = 0.2

Let me say - sp a year ago was 10x today's - so this business has earned its place in the 90% club....and maybe more to come, as they will need to go overseas for cash, if the UK is dry.

I doubt there is a UK Builder with enough dosh to bail-out this dullard. They all thought they could expand until the UK burst with immigrants - yet they consistently went for pricier properties and projects where ( even now), there is some doubt whether there are enough jobs to support new-build developments.

EDIT ( Nov 2015 ) - Seven years on and we're at 183p - so anyone that bought at the all-time Low has done very well - but the Market was fearful and that meant few were Buying. 2009/2010 averaged about 40p - that was a good time if you had the LT cash.
With the rise and yield-multiplier effect, this is looking like Buying it was "probably" inspired.... but it has not regained that earlier Value - which will surely take a lot longer.

Feb 21:

Deutsche Buy - TP held: 155p Reiteration

Jefferies: Buy - TP held: 135p Reiteration

Final results: Wednesday, 26 Feb.

Feb 24: Goldman Sachs: Strong buy - TP held: 166p - Reiteration

Results for the year ended 31 December 2013

Delivering quality returns through the cycle

Highlights

Significant improvement against all of our key financial objectives:

· Group operating profit* margin increased 240 basis points to 13.6% (2012: 11.2%**)

· Group return on net operating assets*** increased 350 basis points to 16.8% (2012: 13.3%**)

· Tangible net asset value per share† increased 13.2% to 69.6p (2012: 61.5p)

· Cash return to shareholders:
o Initial c.£250 million: £50 million in 2014 and £200 million in 2015

o Strategy expected to lead to further significant annual payments from 2016

· Final maintenance dividend proposed 0.47p (2012: 0.43p), giving total for year of 0.69p (2012: 0.62p)

Strong UK operational performance

· 39.1% increase in operating profit* to £312.8 million (2012: £224.8 million**)

· Completed 11,696 homes at an average selling price of £191k (2012: 10,886 homes at £181k)

· 31.4% increase in total order book value to £1,246 million at 31 December 2013 (2012: £948 million)

· Reaching the optimal landbank size for our business with c.9.2k plots converted from the strategic land pipeline

· Invested £227.0 million in local communities (2012: £180.8 million)

· 33% fall in the accident rate on site

.

After results:

Feb 26: Jefferies reiterates Buy - TP up from 135p to 140p

March 3: Citigroup reiterates: Neutral - TP up from 119p to 131p

Credit Suisse Neutral 124.50 124.50 110.00 - Downgrades

Jefferies International Buy 124.50 124.50 140.00 151.00 Retains

Divi dates:

normal divi: 0.47p xd 9 April - payday 21 May

special divi: 1.54p xd 4 June - payday 3 July

March 10: Numis Securities: Hold - TP: 130p - DownGrade

Mar 12: Goldman Sachs: Strong buy - TP held: 166p. Reiteration

UK housing scheme extension boosts housebuilders by $1.55 bln
17 March 2014 15:20
By Brenda Goh
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) – Shares in Britain's five largest housebuilders jumped on Monday, gaining over 930 million pounds ($1.55 billion) in value, after the government unexpectedly said it would extend a popular mortgage scheme aimed at boosting construction of new homes.

Some industry executives said they were concerned that leaving the "Help to Buy" scheme in place until the end of the decade could create an unhealthy dependency on government aid.

Finance minister George Osborne said on Sunday the government would extend a programme of providing equity loans to buyers of newly built homes costing up to 600,000 pounds by four years until 2020. [ID:nL6N0MD09R] Coming in the run-up to the government's annual budget on Wednesday, the announcement illustrates how the debate over Britain's housing shortage has crept to the top of the political agenda, with elections just over a year away.

James Pargeter, head of residential at Deloitte Real Estate, said he was surprised by the length of the extension, saying many in the industry had thought that it might be halted early or tapered off.

"I guess things get a bit skewed when there's an election," he said.

Housebuilding stocks rose strongly on Monday, led by Persimmon and Barratt Developments whose shares climbed 7 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, adding to gains of 40 percent over the past year for the sector. [ID:nL6N0ME1KE]

Shares in the two together with Taylor Wimpey , Berkeley Group Holdings and Bellway added about 930 million pounds in value on Monday, based on Reuters' calculations.

17-Mar-14 Deutsche Buy 118.20p 158.00p 158.00p Reiteration

Over 17 million bought - three O trades - five minutes ago.

i've just added more into pension

Good keep buying millions , i bought these as a trade when they went down a few weeks back and they won't move nearly sold out today.

DOG !!!!!

Why the price drop.

What am I missing!

Projected EPS increasing.

Yield projection increasings.

Is it fright over housing bubble?

Took advantage of the large fall and got some at just under 108p

One report said hard to find skilled labour ! i can't believe that ,typical markets .

Fred1new

ref - why the price drop

The market is well down today but also there has been some negative comments recently, below one late yesterday ......


Housebuilders fall after report highlights "panic" over house prices
By Ceri Jones | Mon, 7th April 2014 - 16:45

Housebuilders Barratt Developments (BDEV), Countrywide (CWD1) and Persimmon (PSN), and online estate agency Rightmove (RMV), fell by an average of around 3% today which has been attributed to a report by HomeOwners' Alliance which caused panic about the rapid rise in house prices across the UK.

The group said that more people now think excessive house prices are a "very serious issue". Most homeowners are now more worried about surging house prices than negative equity, and this sentiment is not limited to London but is spreading across the country, the Owners' Alliance poll of 2500-plus people found.

Still, it is hard to square why the findings should have so sharply pulled down the housebuilders' stock prices today. In terms of stoking the housing market, it should be a help, not a hindrance, that prospective homeowners in 10 out of the 12 UK regions are concerned about accelerating house prices and the scarcity of homes. Surely lack of supply is a very good sign for any product provider?

Perhaps lenders are suddenly planning to rein in mortgage approvals owing to fears of a housing bubble? However, the Help to Buy scheme has been extended to 2020 and the general economic backdrop is clearly improving, while the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply's latest data portrays industry sentiment at its most upbeat since before the credit crunch.

Additional factors at play
There are almost certainly additional factors at play. In part the fall in housing shares will be a knock-on effect of the fall in tech stocks in the US as investors come to their senses about over-optimistic tech valuations, and all investors take a step back and try to not let sentiment outrun events.

It could also be a result of emerging capacity constraints in the building trade and delays in the supply chain. Building skills are in short supply and the availability of subcontractors had fallen at its fastest pace for 14 years, according to survey compiler Markit. Construction firms have also been having to wait longer for raw materials.

The third concern is the market conditions that will be created when the government exits from that other mortgage stimulus it has set up - the three-year mortgage guarantee scheme. Financial secretary to the Treasury Sajid Javid has tried to assure the market that mechanisms that will be deployed to phase out the scheme. At any rate, it is still some time away.

Meanwhile, there is every chance that the market could stop its recent escalation in a moderate fashion. Two recent surveys from Nationwide and Halifax building societies both found that although property values continued to accelerate last month, in London soaring by 18.2% in the year to March according Nationwide, both reports said there was evidence of a slowdown last month in the rate at which property values were rising.

Halifax even said property values fell 1.1% in March compared with February. So the market may not continue to escalate out of hand.

Barratt, in the firing line for any withdrawal of first-time buyer lending, was the biggest faller in the sector, tumbling 4.5% to 391.60p, against a 52-week high of 455.40p