- Chief executive’s wife sells almost £11m in shares
- The housebuilder delivered the housebuilding sector's second-highest total return in 2020
Vanessa Perrins, the wife of Berkeley (BKG) chief executive Rob Perrins, has disposed of almost £11m-worth of shares in the housebuilder, following a year in which the group delivered one of the highest total returns in the sector.
The sale, made at 4,743p a share, was only the second share sale made by Mr Perrins or someone closely associated with him. In October, Vanessa Perrins disposed of just over £715,000-worth of shares.
Mr Perrins’ remaining beneficial holding in the housebuilder stands at 1m shares, equivalent to 0.8 per cent of the outstanding share capital.
The London-focused housebuilder delivered a total return of 6.2 per cent during 2020, according to FactSet data, making it the second-best performer in the sector, after Persimmon (PSN). That was largely thanks to the generous distributions to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks, which during the 12 months to the end of September totalled £280m, or 225p a share. The group was also the first housebuilder to reinstate investor returns in the wake of the pandemic.
In December, management said it was on track to return £280m a year through to 2025. The next £140m will be paid by the end of March via a mix of dividends and share buybacks, of which just over £37m has already been made, with the dividend amount to be confirmed before the end of February.
Management is also weighing whether to return £455m of surplus capital to shareholders or invest the funds in new land. The group’s net cash balance stood at £954m at the end of October.
A more resilient performance in the months following the pandemic has meant the shares have attracted a deserved premium to the sector average, trading at price/forecast NAV multiple of 1.7. That is a slight discount to the group’s own five-year historical average, but leaves the shares fairly valued given the housing market uncertainty ahead. At 4,442p, hold.
Last IC view: Hold, 4,718p, 6 Dec 2020
Buys | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
Benchmark Holdings | Septima Maguire (cfo) | 5 Jan 21 | 62 | 19,988 |
EnQuest | Farina Khan | 11 Jan 21 | 13.5 | 27,000 |
Euromoney Institutional Investor | Colin Day | 7 Jan 21 | 1,084 | 37,940 |
Pantheon International | John Burgess | 7 Jan 21 | 2,515 | 3,849,987 |
River and Mercantile | Jonathan Dawson (ch) | 11 Jan 21 | 234 | 23,400 |
Sells | ||||
Company | Director/PDMR | Date | Price (p) | Aggregate value (£) |
Andrew Wright | James Latham | 11 Jan 21 | 925 | 34,512 |
Berkeley Group Holdings | Robert Perrins (ce) | 8 Jan 21 | 4,743 | 10,848,885 |
Impax Asset Management | Charlie Ridge (cfo) | 5 Jan 21 | 750 | 212,498 |
Impax Asset Management | Ian Simm (ce) | 7 Jan 21 | 840 | 840,000 |
Randall & Quilter | Alan Quilter (ce) | 6 Jan 21 | 176 | 704,000 |
YouGov | Julien Chevignon | 8 Jan 21 | 1,040 | 395,200 |
YouGov | Andy Morris | 8 Jan 21 | 1,040 | 400,400 |
YouGov | Doug Rivers | 8 Jan 21 | 1,040 | 2,600,000 |