Persimmon continues growth

Another year of “disciplined high-quality growth” has been reported by UK housebuilder Persimmon, which said it had seen an “excellent performance” in 2017.

Revenue for the year was said to be up 9% to £3.42 billion (€3.88 billion) from a 2016 figure of £3.14 billion (€3.56 billion).

It said its long-term strategy was successfully delivering growth, with new home legal completions ahead by over 70% since launch of the strategy in 2012.

Nigel Mills, senior independent director and acting chairman, said, “Persimmon’s performance in 2017 has been excellent. The group’s focus on high quality growth, coupled with capital discipline, has accelerated the delivery of our strategic objectives and generated record returns for our shareholders.

“The Group’s outstanding performance is demonstrated by both the strength of the financial position of the business and the quality of the asset platform, which provides the opportunity to continue to deliver excellent returns moving forwards.”

He said that since the launch of the group’s new strategy in 2012 the group had invested approximately £3.18 billion (€3.60 billion) cash in land while simultaneously returning about £1.49 billion (€1.69 billion) of surplus capital to shareholders.

“The start to the spring sales season in 2018 has been encouraging with the Group’s private sales rate per site being 7% higher than last year at this point,” he said. “The further increase in the Capital Return Plan demonstrates the board’s confidence in the group’s prospects.”