Housebuilder increases homes completion target for coming year
Persimmon edged pre-tax profit up by 2% last year despite writing off a 拢25m investment in failed modular developer TopHat.
The housebuilding giant, in its results for the year to 31 December, reported pre-tax profit of 拢359m, up from 拢352m on 2023鈥檚 figure.
The firm racked up 拢39m in exceptional costs, including the 拢25m to TopHat, which wound down its operations last year.
Other costs included the amount spent on prospective merger opportunities and the bill for dealing with the Competition & Markets Authority鈥檚 investigation into large housebuilders, including Persimmon, for alleged breaches of competition law.
Persimmon鈥檚 underlying profit, excluding one-off costs, rose by 14.3% from 拢354.5m to 拢405.2m.
This was higher than market expectations, with previous guidance indicating underlying profit of between 拢349m and 拢390m.
The group鈥檚 turnover rose by 16% from 拢2.8bn to 拢3.2bn, buoyed by an increase in overall sales.
The firm sold 10,664 homes in the year, up on last year鈥檚 figure of 9,922. Its current private forward sales position is 拢1.2bn, 27% higher year-on-year.
The group is expecting to increase its completions to between 11,000 and 11,500 units this year.
But the housebuilder鈥檚 sales to housing associations fell 29% from 2,241 in 2023 to 1,589 last year. It added: 鈥淲e are aware of the financial challenges facing many registered providers, and the impact on their ability to bid for section 106 housing plots, and so are pleased that we have nearly all of our expected s106 housing delivery for 2025 already secured.鈥�
Dean Finch, group chief executive of Persimmon, said: 鈥淭he underlying market fundamentals remain strong and we are encouraged by the further improvement in our sales rates in the early weeks of this year.鈥�
He said the government鈥檚 planning reforms and 鈥榩ro-housebuilding agenda鈥� provides a 鈥減ositive tailwind鈥� to the group鈥檚 housing delivery.
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