Persimmon’s profits rise

The company said the strong recovery in housing demand would help it accelerate plans to return cash to shareholders.

York-based Persimmon, Britain’s biggest house builder by market value, said underlying profit before tax for the year to the end of December rose to £330m ($548.81m), up from £222m the year before.

Analysts had forecast a pre-tax profit of between £293m and £334m, a survey of 15 analysts showed. The company in January posted a 21 per cent rise in 2013 revenue at the top end of analysts’ forecasts.

The company, which said last year that it would return £1.9bn of capital to shareholders over a nine-and-a-half-year period, said it had generated £231m in additional free cash and would accelerate the programme.

It said it would pay 70 pence per share on July 4, being a part acceleration of the final planned payment of 115 pence per share in 2021, and would reinstate its planned 95 pence per share for 2015 in full. It would also make payments of at least 10 pence per share in both 2016 and 2018, it said. Britain’s housebuilders have enjoyed large jumps in profits and sales as they have been the main beneficiaries of Government schemes to loosen up mortgage lending, which have driven up deal volumes and encouraged wider buyer sentiment. Persimmon said it had delivered 16 per cent more legal completions over the year, with its average selling price rising four per cent to £181,861 pounds. It said the first eight weeks of the spring selling season was encouraging, with its weekly private sales rate per site 22 per cent ahead of last year. Total forward sales are currently £1.42bn for 2014, up 41 per cent on the previous year.