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.
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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