Persimmon PLC (LON:PSN) said house demand has remained strong at the start of 2021 with forward orders of £2.3bn or 15% higher than this time last year and sales up by 7%.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder sold 13,575 homes in the year to end-December 2020, down 14% on 2019, but said it expects to see this recover to numbers similar to 2019 in the current year.
Profits in 2020 fell 25% to £784mln due to the impact of coronavirus lockdowns, though its net cash balance rose to £1.2bn (2019: £844mln) with reduced land creditors of £329mln at the end of the year. Revenues for the year fell by 10% to £3.3bn, which had been flagged in January.
The housebuilder had already resumed dividend payments following their suspension during the lockdown period in March and today committed to pay out a postponed special dividend in 2021.
A regular annual payment of £1.25 is being moved forward to March from June with a further £1.10 per share special to be split into 55p per share in August 2021 and 55p per share in December 2021.
In 2022, Persimmon said it intends to return to a normal annual dividend payment of £1.25.
Last month, Persimmon set aside £75mln for repairs to 26 blocks it built in the wake of new fire safety guidelines following the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Dean Finch, chief executive, said Persimmon will concentrate on improving its build quality and would further strengthen its independent inspection regime to help in this regard.