Persimmon promises bumper dividend through to 2021

All the standard metrics underlined Persimmon's strong performance in 2015. Underlying pre-tax profit grew by a third to £638m, boosted by an 8 per cent increase in completions to 14,572 and a 4.5 per cent rise in the average selling price to £199,127. This also helped to lift operating margins from 18.4 per cent to 21.9 per cent, hitting 23 per cent in the second half. Return on capital employed was also up by nearly a third to 32.1 per cent. And in the face of continued robust demand, forward sales rose by 12 per cent to £1.68bn.

The group also moved to top up its land bank with the purchase of 20,501 new plots, bringing the total to 93,649. Within that, plots with detailed planning consent represent around 3.5 years of output at current levels, and there is a further year's output equivalent with outline consent. A total of 252 new sites were opened, up from 185 the previous year, and a further 100 new sites are expected to open in the first half of this year.

Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profit for the 2016 calendar year of £696m and EPS of 181.6p (from £638m and 169p in 2015).