Member Article

York house builder reports 21% increase in profit due to Help-to-Buy scheme

York-based house builders Persimmon Homes has reported full year revenue up 21% to £2.1 billion (2012: £1.7 billion)

The group chairman stated that this was due to the Government’s Help-to-Buy scheme which has increased the number of potential homeowners in the UK.

Underlying profit before tax increased by 49% to £330 million (2012: £222 million) and reported a further 17,735 plots of land acquired in the year bringing consented landbank to 74,407 representing 6.5 years supply.

The Group entered 2014 with a forward order book of £908 million of sales reserved and contracted, creating a strong platform for further sales growth in the new year.

Persimmons was founded in 1972 and builds around 100,000 homes a year.

Nicholas Wrigley, group chairman, said: “Persimmon achieved a strong result for the year as we responded quickly to the increased customer demand that resulted from improved mortgage lending, the introduction of Help to Buy in April 2013 and the increase in consumer confidence as the UK returned to more meaningful economic growth.

“Our success in increasing build rates significantly in response, with second half volumes 30% ahead of those in the first six months, underpinned a robust overall performance.

“2013 was a year of excellent progress against our strategic plan and the strong growth of the business has underpinned an acceleration of the Capital Return Plan.

“The Group entered 2014 with a very strong forward order book and the early weeks of the spring selling season have been encouraging, with our weekly private sales rate per site being 22% ahead of last year for the first eight weeks.

“We anticipate a further year of encouraging sales growth in 2014.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .