Persimmon hails ‘robust’ first half

Persimmon has announced “robust” results for the first half of the year, with profit rising by 60% to £480m. Revenue for the listed housebuilder also rose, climbing to £1.84bn, up from £1.19bn for H1 2020. Persimmon said that it had sold 7,406 homes for an average of £236,199. In the first half of last year it sold 4,900 homes at an average price of £225,066. But chief executive Dean Finch conceded that 2019 was a better comparison for the housebuilder, “reflecting a more typical trading pattern”, when profit was higher, at £509.3m. However, Persimmon’s sales rate for new homes was more than 20% faster than H1 2019, while forward sales were 9% higher. The group has also pursued its strategy to replace its land holdings, spending £200m to add more than 10,000 plots to its portfolio. At the end of H1 it held 85,771 plots, with detailed planning awarded for 42,039. In addition, Persimmon said it had 14,600 acres of strategic land, with the potential to deliver more than 100,000 new homes. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews