Customer focus sees profit slip at Persimmon

Profit at Persimmon is slightly down year on year in the six months to the end of June as the firm continues to focus on customer quality and service.

Persimmon’s profit before tax in the period was £509.3 million (2018: £516.3 million) with total group revenue 4.5% lower at £1.754 billion against £1.836 billion last year. The firm sold 7,584 new homes in the six months against 8,072 last year at an average selling price of £216,942 (2018: £215,813). Of these 7,584, 5,963 were private sale (2018: 6,577) at an ASP of £242,912 (2018: £238,773).

Persimmon group ceo Dave Jenkinson said: "Improving the quality and service delivered to our customers remains our top priority and I am encouraged with the progress made in the first half, which clearly shows that Persimmon is changing. Our customer satisfaction ratings for the current HBF survey year are showing improvement and I am particularly pleased that, in July, Persimmon became the first housebuilder to introduce a retention scheme for customers placing us at the forefront of strengthened consumer rights for home buyers.

"The improvements to our customer service approach had two main impacts in the period. First, customer service spend increased by …