Housebuilder sees number of homes built in the first half rise

Profits and margins jumped at the country鈥檚 third biggest housebuilder as York-based Persimmon said the number of homes it built in the first half was up.

persimmon

The firm, which is behind a plan to build new apartments and homes at King Edwin Park in Harrogate (pictured), said pre-tax profit rose 13% to 拢516m on turnover up 5% to 拢1.84bn.

Margins in the six months to June were up from 28.9% in the first half of 2017 to 30.8% which the firm said 鈥渞eflects the continuation of our disciplined processes of investing in high quality land, making a start on new sites as promptly as possible and supporting growth in our construction activities whilst exercising strong control over our costs鈥.

The firm added that it was facing cost and availability issues with some materials while having enough skilled workers to carry out work was 鈥渢ight鈥.

But it added: 鈥淭he group continues to take steps to better support its build programmes and is managing to contain the inflationary pressures in the supply chain well.鈥

Alasdair Ronald, senior investment manager at analyst Brewin Dolphin, said: 鈥淢argins are being helped by the increasing use of materials that are produced by group subsidiaries (bricks and timber-frame units) and Persimmon is also looking to employ its workforce directly, rather than using subcontracted labour.鈥

The number of homes it completed was up 278 homes to 8,072 with its average selling price edging up 1% to 拢215,813.

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