Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LSE:BKG) reiterated its sales and earnings forecasts for the year though noted the trading environment is getting tougher.
“The operating environment remains volatile with a number of challenges facing all businesses,” said the London and Home Counties -focused builder.
These include the implications of the situation in Ukraine, it said, plus "Inflationary pressure and supply chain constraints, planning complexity and delays, the uncertainty associated with the combined efforts of the industry and Government to address concerns around the safety of people living in tall buildings."
Even so, “Cancellations are at normal rates and sales pricing is sufficiently ahead of business plan to absorb construction cost increases,” it said.
Between 1 November 2021 and 28 February 2022 the value of underlying sales reservations was slightly ahead of pre-pandemic levels, it added.
Earnings guidance for the full year is unchanged with forward sales forecast to be above £1.7bn at year-end.
Net cash should be around £900mln, up slightly on the half-year, with surplus cash of £226mln still earmarked for land purchases.
The next scheduled shareholder return is £141mln for the six months ended 30 September 2022 of which £35mln has already been spent on share buy-backs, said Berkeley.