Persimmon sees profit at top end of forecasts

HOUSE builder Persimmon expects to post a 50 per cent rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profit, towards the top end of analyst forecasts, and believes it is also well placed for the new year due to strong forward sales.

By The Newsroom

Published 9th Jan 2012, 08:38 BST

The York-based house builder, which is the largest in the UK by market value, said total revenue for the year to December 31 was £1.53bn, and it expects underlying operating margin for the year to be around 10 per cent.

Persimmon said it completed 9,360 homes in the period, in line with the previous year. Its average selling price of £164,000 was down two per cent on the previous year due to the rise in the number of first time buyers aided by the government’s FirstBuy shared equity scheme.

The group said that while the general economic backdrop to the UK housing market remained challenging it had seen encouraging visitor levels, sales reservations and stable prices. Forward sales stood at £615m compared to £565m in 2010.

Shares in the firm closed at 481p on Friday, valuing the business at around £1.4bn.

Persimmon’s final results for the year ended December 31, 2011, will be released next month.

York