For six months, the UK homebuilder completed 4,605 new homes, up 4%, while average sales price rose 8% to £284,047
LONDON: Persimmon Plc reported a resilient performance for the first half of 2025, with growth across key financial and operational metrics despite ongoing affordability constraints and geopolitical uncertainty.
For the six months ended June 30, the UK homebuilder completed 4,605 new homes, up 4% year-on-year, while the average sales price rose 8% to £284,047. New housing revenue climbed 12% to £1.31 billion, driving a 13% increase in underlying operating profit to £172 million.
Total group revenue rose 14% to £1.50 billion, while statutory profit before tax remained flat at £146.7 million. Cash reserves fell to £123 million from £350.2 million, reflecting strategic investment in land and development.
Persimmon maintained its interim dividend at 20p per share and reaffirmed full-year guidance of 11,000 to 11,500 completions with an operating margin between 14.2% and 14.5%.
Operational highlights included:
- A 7% rise in private completions to 3,987 homes
- 11% growth in the private forward order book to £1.25 billion
- Launch of New Build Boost, a first-to-market shared equity offering
- Continued five-star customer satisfaction and highest-ever Trustpilot rating
- £210 million invested in land at strong margins
- 5,066 plots achieved detailed planning, equivalent to 110% of completions
The company also reported good progress on building safety remediation, with works started or completed on over 80% of assessed buildings—well ahead of the industry average.
Looking ahead, Persimmon expects to grow volumes to approximately 12,000 units in 2026, supported by outlet expansion and margin progression. While macroeconomic volatility and affordability constraints remain, the company expressed confidence in its ability to deliver sustained growth.
Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, said: “I am pleased that we have continued to grow in the first half of the year despite challenging market conditions and with affordability still an important constraint. Our average sales price, sales, completions, planning approvals, active sites and forward order book are all up, many against industry trends, showing that our strategy including a focus on self-help has continued to deliver. An improvement in operating profit and return on capital demonstrate the benefit of our on-going operational discipline.
“We continue to invest in our key capabilities to further strengthen this growing platform. Disciplined investment in land is being complemented by planning success to secure additional site openings. Our vertical integration strengths have been further enhanced, with more efficiency benefits to come. Our three-brand strategy is helping to increase sales, with investment in marketing seeking to drive further growth.
“We are on course to deliver our previously guided range of 11,000-11,500 completions this year. While mindful of macroeconomic volatility we remain focused on driving further improvements to secure the medium-term growth ambitions we set out in March.
“Given our strong progress with building safety remediation, we anticipate being able to review our capital allocation policy when the programme of works is substantially complete.”