Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) saw its shares jump first thing after the housebuilder said its trading performance in the first half of the year has been “excellent” and customer demand is still good with the market having taken the snap UK general election last month in its stride.
Analysts said it was “difficult to disagree” with Persimmon’s 'excellent' epithet. They added that there is good momentum going into the second half and expect to increase full-year 2017 pretax profit forecasts for the housebuilder by at least 9% .
READ: Persimmon says its "operational performance continues to be excellent” helped by a resilient UK economy
In early morning trading, Persimmon was a top FTSE 100 gainer, up 3%, or 70p at 2,361p.
In a trading update for the half-year ended 30 June 2017, the firm said it increased legal completion volumes by 8% to 7,794 new homes, up from 27,238 at the same stage in 2016.
The group added that its average selling price improved by 3.5% to around £213,000, up from £205,762 last year, helping revenue grow by 12% to £1.66bn.
Persimmon said the “increase in new homes sold demonstrates the Group's drive to meet market demand in all its regional markets across the UK.”
The group added that it has continued to experience good levels of customer demand since the its AGM trading update on 27 April, with the market taking the snap UK General Election in its stride.
Private sales rate per site for the first half around 7% ahead of last year
It said group sales through May and June were healthy, leaving its weekly private sales rate per site for the first half around 7% ahead of last year.
Persimmon added that it anticipates that the group's operating margin in the first half of 2017 will comfortably exceed the 25.7% delivered in the second half of the prior year.
The group said it has strong momentum moving into the second half of the year, with total forward sales value at 30 June 2017 of £1.60bn, 18% higher than last year.
It added that it has remained active in the land market, inking 47 new land deals for around 9,300 new homes “that will provide high quality returns in future periods.”
As at 30 June, the firm held cash of £1,120bn, up from £462mln a year earlier prior to payment of a scheduled capital return to shareholders of £339mln on 3 July.
Persimmon will announce half year results on 22 August.
-- Adds analyst comment, share price --