Persimmon’s share price increased over 4% after the company released strong financial results for 2021 on Wednesday.
The property company saw its profits increase to £973 million against £863.1 million in 2020, alongside a total group revenue of £3.61 billion compared to a figure of £3.33 billion in 2020.
Persimmon reported a dividend of £398.7 million for 26 March 2021 and £350.9 million for 13 August 2021, which equated to 125p and 110p per share respectively.
The company sold 14,551 homes in 2021, which represented a rise of 7.2%, alongside selling prices rising 2.8% higher at £237,000.
The group mentioned it expects to deliver volume growth of 4-7% across the entire year in 2022 against 2021 results, alongside an anticipated greater completion rate in H2 2022 compared to H1 2022 as a reflection of a return to regular trading patterns and its outlet network’s growth profile.
Persimmon added that it expects an increase in selling prices to mitigate build cost inflation.
“Persimmon’s performance was strong in 2021 as we delivered more homes, built better and strengthened our platform for future growth,” said Persimmon CEO Dean Finch.
“Maintaining build rates at pre-Covid levels, we delivered almost 1,000 additional new homes, and improved customer service such that we anticipate receiving a five-star rating in the annual HBF survey later in March 2022, a first in the company’s history, whilst also improving our underlying operating margin.”
Analysts commented that Persimmon’s results have delivered strong, yet expected results from the company’s financial profile.
“Persimmon have set a lot of concerns to rest with these numbers,” said Steve Clayton, fund manager at HL Select.
“Fears that volumes would be held back in 2022 are eased by news that the group has upped its rate of land-buying significantly in the latter part of 2021 and will now see a large number of new sites opening in the first half of the year.”
“Margins pushed ahead, despite cost pressures and the group are indicating that the higher margins will remain.”
“This is all solid stuff from Persimmon, but in truth, much was already known and a lot of the rest was expected.”