Persimmon sees bumper July as house sales rebound
Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN), the housebuilder, said it has seen a strong rebound in house sales in July following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Average weekly private sales are up by 49% on a year, the FTSE 100 group added, with forward orders 21% higher at £2.5bn.
In a statement with its results for the half-year to June, Persimmon added that prospects were sufficiently encouraging to recommend a 40p interim dividend, although this a fraction of last years 235p payment.
Earlier in the year, the builder scrapped its final dividend and plans for a special dividend but said it might make up some of the final payment if trading remains strong.
Revenues in the six months to June fell by a third to £1.2bn while the number of completions dropped to 4,900 (7,584) as lockdown severely hampered sales and construction.
Profits decreased by 42% to £292.4mln and Persimmon said it ended the period in a strong financial position with cash of £821mln.
For the second half, Persimmon said a strong opening work in progress position and excellent build rate through the summer gave it confidence in a positive second half outturn.
“We expect that by the end of September, we will have delivered c. 45% of our aRead More – Source
