Blackfriar: How Yorkshire's big firms performed in 2017

Yorkshire’s biggest PLC housebuilder Persimmon has had a stellar year despite fears that Brexit would hammer the new build sector.

Shares in the York-based housebuilder have jumped an impressive 53 per cent in 2017.

There were a few wobbles last month after the firm said sales of new homes were flat during the third quarter.

However, it noted that the comparable figures from a year earlier were particularly high – up 14​ per cent​ from 2015 – due to particularly strong sales after the 2016 EU referendum. Urban regeneration housebuilder MJ Gleeson has also had a fantastic year and its share price has risen 40 per cent in 2017.

The Sheffield-based firm said customers are queuing up on site opening days as more home buyers look to buy houses in former pit villages and other deprived areas in the North of England.

The group’s forward order book at the end of November was up more than 30 per cent on last year.

The firm, which​ ​specialises in building houses on land that no-one else wants to buy and turning it into a desirable area that rejuvenates the local economy, said demand remains strong.

Both Persimmon and Gleeson said the Government’s Help to Buy scheme remains popular. A hefty 63 per cent of Gleeson’s customers took advantage of Help to Buy this year.

Yorkshire supermarket giants Morrisons and Asda have also had a good year.

Morrisons has enjoyed two years of growth under CEO David Potts

The Bradford-based chain said it is confident about its prospects for Christmas as it reported an eighth straight quarterly rise in sales.

The firm said it ​i​s working hard to limit the impact of ​rising food costs for shoppers as it pledged to freeze the price of the top 100 items most commonly purchased over the festive period.

Mr Potts’ vision is to fix, rebuild and grow Morrisons, and he has had considerable success so far, as shown by two years of sales growth. Meanwhile there are signs that Asda is recovering​ after a difficult few years.

Growth remains in the slow lane at Asda, but at least it is growing. Its premium own label lines are growing at 15 per cent and at the other end, Farm Stores is also doing well.

The Leeds-based grocer was crowned as the Lowest Priced Christmas Shop 2017 by influential magazine The Grocer.

The magazine’s festive shopping list, which includes 33 festive products including turkey, mince pies, sprouts, Baileys and Port, came to £115.72 – the lowest price of all the supermarkets in the survey.

This is great news for Asda. It needs to restore its reputation as a cheap supermarket after German discounters Aldi and Lidl have stolen market share.

So while all is looking rosy for Yorkshire’s housebuilders and supermarkets, some companies have endured an annus horribilis.

Step forward sub prime lender Provident Financial, which has seen 70 per cent of its share value wiped out this year, a demotion from the FTSE 100, several profits warnings and the departure of its chief executive Peter Crook.

It has been a dreadful year for the Bradford-based firm.

The latest blow is the news that the financial watchdog has​ opened an investigation into Moneybarn, its car and van financing arm.​ ​

The lender is already contending with lost income resulting from an FCA investigation into its Vanquis Bank.​

Analysts believe that Provident can weather regulatory storms such as these bearing in mind the group’s healthy cash pile and the hope that a new management team can put a turnaround strategy in place.

But the real question is whether it can get its core doorstep lending business back in shape.