Persimmon dismisses Brexit fears with 17% reservation rise

Persimmon says it is anticipating a “good autumn sales season” after reporting a 17% annual increase in its private sale reservation rate since July 1st.

Related topics:  Finance
Rozi Jones
23rd August 2016
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Releasing its half year results today, Persimmon says its customers "quickly digested" the Referendum result, with the level of visitors per site per week was 20% ahead year-on-year.
 
During the six months to June 30 2016, the firm's pre-tax profit increased by 29% to £352.3 million against the equivalent period in 2015. Revenue climbed 12% to £1.49 billion, with legal completions rising 6% to 7,238 new homes at an average selling price of £205,762 - 6% higher.

Its current order book, including legal completions from July 1 2016, is 2% ahead of the same point as last year at £1.75 billion. It has 5,836 new homes sold forward into the private sale market.

Persimmon said that cancellations increased “modestly” in the week following the referendum result, before returning to normal levels.
 
Jeff Fairburn, group CEO, said: “Persimmon's robust trading performance in the first half of 2016 was driven by our continued focus on meeting market demand to deliver controlled sustainable growth.
 
“While the result of the EU referendum has created increased economic uncertainty, customer interest since then has been robust with visitor numbers to our sites around 20% ahead year on year.
 
“The group is now trading through the traditionally slower summer weeks but customer demand remains encouraging and we anticipate a good autumn sales season.”

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