Housebuilder reports strong half-year results, with revenue and pre-tax profit up nearly 20%
Berkeley is building more new homes now than it was immediately before the financial crisis hit in 2008, the housebuilder has said.
The firm made the statement as it posted strong half-year financial results for the six month period to 31 October, with revenue and pre-tax profit up nearly 20%.
Pre-tax profit was up 19.2% to 拢169.5m, up from 拢142.2m the previous year, while revenue was 19.7% to 拢821m, up from 拢686m.
The firm invested 拢278m invested in land over the period to acquire an additional 1,754 residential plots.
Chairman Tony Pidgley said the firm鈥檚 performance indicated it was on track to make a promised dividend payment of 拢568m in September 2015 and return 拢1.7bn in cash to shareholders by no later than September 2021.
Pidgley said the firm had the 鈥渃apacity to invest further鈥� in housebuilding, but he was concerned about current political uncertainty 鈥渁round property taxation and international buyers鈥�.
He added: 鈥淭he long-term challenge for the country is to deal with the significant housing shortfall which continues to grow.
鈥淥ver the last five years Berkeley has doubled the size of its business, investing over 拢1.5 billion into land and over 拢2.5 billion into build, sustaining 16,000 direct and indirect jobs each year and building over 15,000 homes of every tenure in vibrant new places.鈥�
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