Persimmon shares were higher on Wednesday morning after the housebuilder said they had experienced ‘signs of encouragement’ in recent weeks after an abysmal start to the year.
Persimmon’s completions were down 42% in the first quarter compared to last year, and the current forward sales position fell 30% to £1.7bn. There was 18% less cash than at this time last year.
“Our performance in the first quarter was as we expected and reflects the challenging trading conditions in Q4 2022 and consequent lower forward order book as we entered the year,” said Dean Finch, Persimmon Group Chief Executive.
However, Finch continued to explain bright spots in activity in the most recent period.
“Trading over recent weeks has offered some signs of encouragement with visitor numbers up, cancellation levels normalising and sales rates continuing the steady improvement evident since the start of the year.”
The company sees an uncertain outlook but is guiding for 8,000 to 9,000 completions in FY2023 – if the current trajectory is kept to. Persimmon completed on 11,282 homes in 2022.
Persimmon shares were trading up 3.7% at 1,282p at the time of writing.