Berkeley Group delivers

Half-year sales totalled 2,294 units, of which 1,372 were sold in London and the south east at an average price of £649,000 a unit. It also disposed of 534 properties from its rental portfolio to M&G Investments - mainly outside London - at an average selling price of £197,000 each, resulting in an overall average selling price of £350,000. Despite a £3.4m increase in overheads, a change in the sales mix also lifted the underlying operating margin from 20.7 per cent a year earlier to 23.3 per cent.

Shareholders were rewarded with another 90p a share dividend, too, which leaves 90p outstanding in order to meet the first milestone of returning 434p a share by September 2015. Thereafter, a further 433p is targeted for payment by September 2018 and another 433p by September 2021. Furthermore, the group has significant visibility over future cash flow, with money due on forward sales up by £419m at £2.69bn. Given the strong cash generation, Berkeley hinted that this could lead to further dividend payments or a share buyback programme. Land holdings rose to over 24,000 plots, with a future anticipated gross margin of £3.2bn.

Analysts at UBS are forecasting full-year cash profit of £375m and diluted EPS of 188p (from £280m and 140p in 2014).