Shares in Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LSE:BKG) fell despite the housebuilder reporting a smaller fall in annual profits than expected and announcing plans to build a portfolio of 4,000 build-to-rent homes.
The full-year results from the housebuilder showed profit before tax of £557 million, down 7.7% on the previous year but better than the consensus forecast of £550 million.
This was from revenues that fell 3.4% to £2.5 billion as the number of homes delivered dropped to 3,521 from 4,043 the year before and profit margins dropped 80 basis points to 19.5%.
Net cash improved by £122 million to reach £532 million at the end of the year.
The FTSE 100-listed group said the final part of its £283 million annual shareholder return is to come in the form of a 33p dividend, with a further special dividend of 174p planned for September.
It has increased its PBT guidance by 5% to £525 million for the new financial year, above the consensus forecast of £504 million.
Berkeley announced plans to build a 'build-to-rent platform' of 4,000 homes across 17 of its sites over a 10-year period, "to maximise returns in today's market conditions". It will fund this from a mixture of internal funds, bank debt and eventually external funding.
Shares fell 2% in early trading to 4,900p.