Green 25 DMA
Red 50 DMA

Berkeley Group: A residential housebuilder with a high percentage of its developments on brown field land. Established in 1976, the company now includes the Berkeley Homes, St George and St James brands, with important exposure to the high value London property market.
Shares in issue 131.28m (Oct '10)
Currently no dividend (Oct '10)
Forecast PE apr '11 13.2, to apr '12 11.6.

StockMarketWire.com
"House builder, Berkeley group says that it has continued to perform strongly in the four months to the end of August, maintaining forward sales above 600m.

Demand for properties in the period has been resilient, particularly in London which has a shortage of supply.

Outside London, which is reliant on the UK domestic economy to a greater extent, a lack of credit availability and overall consumer confidence is acting as a constraint to achieving an increase in transaction volumes at this point in the market cycle.

The Group says that its financial strength, which currently includes in excess of 300 million of cash, is a competitive advantage when acquiring new land and securing planning consents.

During the period it has acquired 8 sites in the period, including a site at Horsham for which a planning consent for some 1,000 plots has been obtained.

The Board is confident that the Group can achieve its objective of growing earnings per share by 10% in the current financial year."

Liberum broker note (08.10.10) - "We remain comfortable as buyers of Berkeley, because of the strong balance sheet, London exposure and hidden value."

StockMarketWire.com
Berkeley Group downgraded to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse.

Notification of Half Yearly Results
The Berkeley Group Holdings plc will announce its half year results for the six months ended 31 October 2010 on Friday, 3 December 2010.

StockMarketWire.com
Urban regeneration specialist Berkeley Group reported a pre-tax profit of 61.6m for the half-year to end-October, an increase of 18.5% on the prior year.

The improvement was driven principally by an increase in revenue of 15.9% from 290.1m to 336.2m.

Operating margin of 17.4% was at a similar level to the first half of last year, with net finance income of 1.8m (2009: 3m) and joint ventures contributing 1.2m of profit (2009: 1.6m loss).

Basic earnings per share for the six months are 33.5p compared to 28.1p for the equivalent period last year; an increase of 19.2%.

Cash due on Forward Sales was up 21.9% to 790.1m (April 2010: 648.1m).

Total equity attributable to shareholders increased by 16.2m to 874.8m (April 2010: 858.6m) in the period which saw Berkeley acquire 3.6 million shares into treasury at a cost of 28.2m and a further 0.2 million shares acquired by the Employee Benefit Trust.

As a result, net assets per share increased by 31.1p to 667.6p at end- October (April 2010: 636.7p).

StockMarketWire.com
Berkeley Group started with hold rating at Panmure Gordon, 838p target price.

Final Results.

HIGHLIGHTS



Profit before Tax
Up 23.5% to 136.2 million (2010: 110.3 million)

Operating Margin
Up 1% to 18.3% (2010: 17.3%)

Net Asset Value per Share
Up 11.4% to 709.2 pence (April 2010: 636.7 pence)

Share buy backs
Acquisition of 3.8 million shares for 30.0 million at an average price of 785 pence per share.

Net Cash
42.0 million (April 2010: 316.9 million)

Cash due on Forward Sales
Up 25.5% to 813.5 million (April 2010: 648.1 million)

Land Bank
27,026 plots and 2.3 billion of future gross margin - an increase of 13.1% since 30 April 2010

Return on Equity
Pre-tax return on shareholders' equity of 15.3% (2010: 13.3%)




ANNOUNCEMENT OF LONG TERM STRATEGIC PLAN



The Board of Berkeley has undertaken a strategic review, the outcome of which is to propose a long term strategic plan under which the business will operate over the next 10 years and to return approximately 1.7 billion in cash to existing shareholders in a series of dividends payable on or before the following milestones:



Dividend
per share

30 September 2015 4.34
30 September 2018 4.33
30 September 2021 4.33
13.00

Stonking open after extended auction +78p 6.9%

Up another 60 today - so much for boring shares!

Too far, too fast? Results were good, but maybe a little overvalued now.

If you don't mind holding until 2021 - there are always the dividends to consider ! :-))

I actually shorted them on Friday and was stopped out -25, luckily fairly small.

Friday December 2nd, Upmarket London housing developer Berkeley Group will comment on Friday on the health of the housing market and its views on the Government proposals to boost mortgage availability. Berkeley is forecast by analysts to post a rise in half-year revenue and profits when it publishes results. For the full-year, the consensus among analysts is for revenues to rise 15pc and pre-tax profits 22pc.

StockMarketWire.com
House builder Berkeley Group's pre-tax profits jumped by 64.1% to 101.1m in the six months to the end of October.

Revenues were up 20.4% at 404.9m and operating profits soared by 82.8% to 107.1m while after-tax profits rose by 67.4% to 74.0m.

Chairman Tony Pidgley said: "Looking forward, the further increase in forward sales and the strong balance sheet, which remains ungeared, means Berkeley is increasingly well positioned to capitalise on the current market conditions.

"In terms of the housing industry more generally, the recent announcements which are aimed at stimulating the delivery of new homes are welcome.

"On the supply side, the draft National Planning Policy Framework addresses many of the obstacles within the current planning system and, if implemented, will put in place the conditions to allow developers to bring forward new planning applications with the necessary safeguards to ensure this takes place in harmony with the natural environment."

Investec initiates buy on Berkeley Group, target price 1500p.

Final Results

PROFIT BEFORE TAX UP 57.7% FROM £136.2 MILLION TO £214.8 MILLION

PRE-TAX RETURN ON EQUITY INCREASED FROM 15.3% TO 21.2%

VALUE OF LAND BANK UP 12.0% TO £2.58 BILLION OF FUTURE GROSS MARGIN

These seem to be breaking out this morning - at their highest since 2008.

Interim Management Statement

Trading for the period has been in line with the Board's expectations. In addition, the completion of 149 properties at Grosvenor Waterside in the period, out of the 185 remaining properties which had previously been forecast to be delivered over the next three years, has benefitted earnings in the current year which are currently anticipated to be at the top end of analysts' expectations. All these properties were paid for in full at the year end and no additional cash will be generated by the business from the acceleration of these sales.

Sold my holding - been in since since Nov 2011 at 1225p

Interim Management Statement

The Berkeley Group Holdings plc ("Berkeley" or "the Group") today announces its Interim Management Statement in respect of the period from 1 November 2012 to 28 February 2013.

Berkeley remains on course to return £568 million in cash to shareholders by no later than the first milestone date of 30 September 2015 and, as announced on 7 December 2012, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 15 pence per ordinary share which will be paid on 19 April 2013 to shareholders on the register on 22 March 2013. This dividend will contribute approximately £20 million towards the £568 million target and is the first return to shareholders since Berkeley repositioned the business in March 2009 and invested some £1 billion in new land at the right point in the cycle.

Berkeley's operating model places an emphasis on adding value throughout the development cycle whilst recognising the risks of operating in a cyclical market. This requires a collaborative approach to creating places which involves local communities, councils and businesses, and a passion for exceptional design to provide the homes in which our customers want to live.

It is this emphasis which has helped Berkeley secure eight further planning consents since the Half Year including recent resolutions to grant planning on two London schemes, at Hampton House on Albert Embankment and Sovereign Court in Hammersmith. These successes have secured additional value in Berkeley's land bank as well as reducing planning risk and underpinning the Group's ability to deliver against its long term plan subject to market conditions.

In the period Berkeley has also acquired three new sites at Finchley, Mill Hill and Maidenhead. These acquisitions, together with our continued drive to add value through optimisation which is expected to maintain the momentum reported in the first half, give the Board confidence towards achieving its target of 10% growth in the land bank for the full year.

The market for new homes in London and the South East is still characterised by a shortage of supply at all price levels, albeit that this market is affected by the drag on demand caused by restrictions on mortgage availability and increased regulation. In this environment, Berkeley has continued to carefully match its investment in work in progress with forward sales which are now in excess of £1.4 billion, a balance which will remain the key determinant of future growth.

Berkeley is currently ungeared and has a strong land bank in place, factors that give the Board confidence that it will meet expectations for the year ending 30 April 2013 and its long term plan to return £13 per share to shareholders.


END

:-)

Panmure Gordon Sell 1,972.00 1,975.00 1,702.00 1,702.00 Downgrades

Numis Buy 1,972.00 1,975.00 - 2,478.00 Upgrades

Final Results

PERFORMANCE

· Profit before tax up 26.0% to £270.7 million (2012: £214.8 million)
· Operating margin before exceptional item up 1.6% to 20.4% (2012: 18.8%)
· Pre-tax return on shareholders' equity of 22.4% (2012: 21.2%)
· £314.6 million invested in land in the year acquiring a further 3,021 residential plots
· Basic earnings per share increased by 32.2% to 160.0 pence (2012: 121.0 pence)
· Further interim dividend of 59 pence per share payable in September 2013

BALANCE SHEET

· Net cash of £44.7 million (April 2012: net debt of £57.9 million)
· Cash due on forward sales of £1,452.8 million (April 2012: £1,055.7 million)
· Shareholders' equity up £222.6 million to £1,322.4 million (April 2012: £1,099.8 million)
· Net Asset Value per share up 20.2% to 1,009.1 pence (April 2012: 839.3 pence)
· 25,684 plots in land bank (April 2012: 26,021)
· Future anticipated gross margin in land bank up 10.5% to £2,852 million (April 2012: £2,580 million)