|
Persimmon PLC on Wednesday backed its full-year completions target after reporting higher first-half profit, though the rise was moderated by exceptional charges. The York, England-based housebuilder posted £1.50 billion in revenue for the six months that ended June 30, advancing 14% from £1.32 billion a year ago. This reflected a 4% boost in new home sales to 4,605 at an an average price of £284,047 which is around 8% higher on-year. Pretax profit increased by 0.3% to £146.7 million from £146.3 million, though underlying pretax profit implied a sharper rise of 11% to £164.9 million from £149.2 million. The underlying result excludes a £2.0 million goodwill impairment and an exceptional charge of £16.2 million related to an investigation into Persimmon and fellow housebuilders by the UK Conducts & Markets Authority. The CMA proposed to drop the enquiry into ‘anti-competitive conduct’ by Persimmon and six of its peers, after they committed a combined £100 million to the government’s affordable homes programme. Persimmon saw an uptick in cost of sales over the first half, which totalled £1.2 billion compared to £1.1 billion on-year. Earnings per basic share were down 10% at 31.2 pence. The decrease was 9.9% for diluted shares, which fell to 30.9p each. Still, the firm kept its interim dividend unchanged from the year prior at 20p, and maintained its full-year outlook. Persimmon expects to meet its 2025 target for home completions ranging from 11,000 to 11,500 at a housing operating margin of 14.2% to 14.5%. In 2024, the company built 10,664 homes at an underlying operating margin of 14.1%. The firm described its order book as ‘well-positioned’ for the second half, with approximately 80% of private completions and all partnership completions secured for the rest of the year. For 2026, Persimmon expects around 12,000 completions at a margin similar to 2025, but noted that budget constraints continue to weigh on customers. ‘While interest and mortgage rates have reduced, they are at levels that still present a barrier to many potential customers,’ Persimmon said. Chief Executive Dean Finch added: ‘I am pleased that we have continued to grow in the first half of the year despite challenging market conditions and with affordability still an important constraint. Our average sales price, sales, completions, planning approvals, active sites and forward order book are all up, many against industry trends, showing that our strategy including a focus on self-help has continued to deliver. An improvement in operating profit and return on capital demonstrate the benefit of our on-going operational discipline.’ Persimmon shares traded 3.4% lower at 1,096.50 pence on Wednesday morning in London. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
