The chief executive of Persimmon has said the housebuilder had an “excellent” start to the second half of the year, with a near-50% annual rise in sales since the start of July and a growing order book.
The upbeat outlook comes as the company published results for the first six months of the year, confirming a fall in revenue of a third to £1.19bn and a 35% drop in home completions to 4,900. Pretax profit of £292.4m was 42% lower than a year ago.
Chief executive Dave Jenkinson said the second half of the year has started well. Average weekly private sales rates are up 49% year-on-year since July, and the company’s order book, at £2.5bn, is 20% larger than a year ago. The company expects to have delivered 45% of its anticipated second-half legal completions by the end of September.
