Housebuilder Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) was the top riser on the FTSE 100 this morning after it reported better than expected pre-tax profits.
In the six months to June, pre-tax profit rose 29% to £352.3mln on a 12% boost to revenue to £1.49bn.
Legal completions increased 6% to 7,238 new homes sold while the average selling price grew 6% to an average of £205,762. Return on average capital employed surged 29% to 35.6%.
Net cash came to £462mln at the end of the period, up from £278mln the prior year.
“Our private sale reservation rate since 1 July is currently 17% ahead of the same period last year,” added chief executive Jeff Fairburn.
Following the EU referendum, the group said it remained “cautious” when it came to new land investment, but will continue to proceed with attractive opportunities on a selective basis.
The first half saw the group buy over 7,000 new plots of land across 38 sites.
"By investing in high quality new land at the right time in the housing cycle superior shareholder value will be sustained," said chairman Nicholas Wrigley.
"It is likely that uncertainty around the potential impact of the EU Referendum result on the UK economy will persist for some time."
The group said it is now trading through the traditionally slower summer weeks but customer demand remained “encouraging” and it anticipates a good autumn sales season.
Analysts at Liberum said the results were “better than expected”. The broker said that the improved sales rate showed that customers in Persimmon's markets – outside of London- appeared to be shrugging off Brexit uncertainties.
“We expect consensus estimates to rise on these results due to the surprising strength of operating margins in the first half and the strength of trading reported since 1 July,” said the broker.
Shares rose 3.5% to 1,859p.