TIDMPSN

RNS Number : 9205R

Persimmon PLC

02 July 2015

TRADING UPDATE

THURSDAY 2 JULY 2015

Persimmon plc announces the following update ahead of its Half Year Results to 30 June 2015, which will be released on Tuesday 18 August 2015.

The Group has traded well through the first half of 2015. Customer sentiment remained resilient through the period running up to the General Election on 7 May and confidence has improved subsequently. New home legal completion volumes increased by 7% to 6,855 units (2014: 6,408) and total revenues increased by 12% to GBP1.34 bn (2014: GBP1.20 bn). Visitor numbers to our sites across the UK have been in line with the prior year and cancellation rates have remained at low levels.

Customer demand has been supported by an increasingly competitive mortgage market over the last six months, together with continued growth in employment and some welcome improvement in disposable incomes. The opportunity to buy a newly built home remains compelling. The average selling price for the Group increased by 4% to c. GBP195,000 (2014: GBP186,970).

For the first half of the year the Group's weekly rate of sale into the private sale market was 11% ahead of the prior year. At 30 June forward sales volumes into the private sale market were 12% ahead of last year at 4,606 new homes with an average selling price of c. GBP213,000, 4% ahead of last year. Total forward sales value at 30 June increased by 15% to GBP1.36 bn (2014: GBP1.18 bn).

We successfully opened 122 new sites in the first half of the year despite experiencing a slow-down in the planning application process in the period running up to the General Election. As a result our outlet network at 30 June of 395 active sites was c. 5% stronger than at the start of the year. We continue to actively develop all sites where we have an implementable detailed planning consent and plan to open a further c.125 new sites during the second half of the year.

The land market continues to provide attractive opportunities for investment to support the future growth of the business. We have acquired c. 11,500 new plots of land across the UK during the first half and our consented land bank at 30 June totalled c. 92,400 plots. We continue to take advantage of profitable opportunities to strengthen the land platform for the future development of the business.

The third payment of our Capital Return Plan of GBP291 million, or 95p per share, was accelerated and paid on 2 April 2015 in line with the long term strategic plan adopted by management. The Group's total free net cash inflow before capital return in the first half of the year was c. GBP191 million (2014: GBP122 million). Due to this strong liquidity cash holdings at 30 June were c. GBP278 million ( 30 June 2014: GBP326 million).

We will announce our Half Year Results on Tuesday 18 August 2015 and will provide further details at that time.

Please Note

There will be a call for analysts at 0900 BST today. Please use the dial-in details below:

Telephone number: +44 (0) 20 3003 2666

Conference code: Persimmon

An audiocast of the call will be available on www.corporate.persimmonhomes.com from this afternoon.

For further information, please contact:

 
 Persimmon plc                  Citigate Dewe Rogerson 
 
 Jeff Fairburn, Group Chief     Simon Rigby 
  Executive 
 Mike Killoran, Group Finance   Kevin Smith 
  Director 
 
 Tel: +44 (0)1904 642199        Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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