Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LSE:BKG) shares continued to fall despite the housebuilder beating profit forecasts for the past year and upping its future guidance due to its "unrivalled" land holdings in London and South East.
Already down almost 24% since the start of the year, the shares dropped 1.7% to 3,727p on Wednesday morning.
The FTSE 100 group reported revenue of £2.35bn and profit before tax of £552mln for the year to 30 April, up 7% and 6% on the prior year.
PBT was modestly above the consensus estimate of £547mln, while earnings per share of 418p were up 23% and even further ahead of consensus of 390p due to the share buybacks and capital returns that totalled £515mln for the year.
No estimate was given for fixing fire safety issues, with the company saying it will carry out assessments "on all relevant buildings and will undertake any works necessary to address life-critical fire safety issues".
Berkeley increased forward sales to £2.17bn from £1.72bn a year ago and said it has £8.3bn of estimated future gross margin from its "unrivalled" land holdings, meeting its £7.5bn target three years early, following the £413m purchase of the remaining 50% of St William's Bow Common from National Grid, where 1,000 homes are planned.
It will now only acquire new land "very selectively".
With spending on the St William deal and capital returns, net cash was £269mln at year-end, from £1.13bn a year earlier.
Berkeley made no changes to its plans for £282mln of annual shareholder returns and for the current year guided to PBT of around £600mln, rising to £625mln in the two years after that, an increase of 3-4% on existing consensus.
It reported a "stable start" to the current year, with enquiries, visitor numbers and reservations in line with the fourth quarter.