There was nothing in half-year figures from Persimmon (PSN) to suggest that trading in the housebuilding sector is anything but robust. All the key metrics showed positive progress and with over £1bn in surplus cash, Persimmon remains committed to return surplus capital of at least 235p a share for the next two years and 110p in 2021.
New home sales were up 4 per cent at 8,072, while average selling prices were ahead by the same proportion on Persimmon homes and 2.2 per cent on Charles Church branded homes. It also delivered 1,495 affordable homes to its housing association partners, with prices broadly flat at £114,000. Furthermore, a strict control on costs meant that underlying operating margins grew from 27.6 per cent to 29.7 per cent.
And while trading at this time of year is traditionally quieter, sales rates were broadly flat from a year earlier, while the forward order book was up 6 per cent at £2.12bn. A total of 11,072 new plots were bought, taking the total of owned and controlled plots in the consented land bank up to 101,445.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to December 2018 of £1.04bn and EPS of 270.3p (from £977m/258.6p in 2017).
| PERSIMMON (PSN) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 2,467p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 7.72bn | |
| TOUCH: | 2,465-2,467p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,913p | LOW: 2,366p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 9.5% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 906p | NET CASH: | £1.15bn | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2017 | 1.75 | 457 | 120 | nil |
| 2018 | 1.84 | 516 | 135 | nil* |
| % change | +5 | +13 | +13 | - |
| Ex-div: | - | |||
| Payment: | - | |||
| *Not including a 125p per share capital return paid on 29 March and a 110p final dividend paid on 2 July | ||||
