Persimmon delivers strong results for 2017

Persimmon’s legal completions rose by nearly 6% to 16,043 in 2017 according to final results revealed today.

The firm’s revenue rose 9% to £3.42 billion and operating margin reached 28.2% with average selling price increasing by 3.2% to £213,321 (2016: £206,765). Profit before tax rose 25% to £977.1 million.

Acting chairman and senior independent director Nigel Mills said: “Persimmon remains focused on executing its long term strategic plan, resulting in high quality growth and superior value creation. Delivering this growth is dependent on securing the necessary implementable detailed planning consents for land in attractive locations as efficiently as possible, progressing development construction activity promptly and achieving rates of new home construction to meet market demand. The team is seeking to expand the group's output further to deliver the new housing needed by local communities across the UK.”

Persimmon opened a sixth new operating business in three years in January 2018 which takes the total number of group housebuilding businesses to 30.

"The start to the spring sales season in 2018 has been encouraging,” said Mills, “with the group's private sales rate per site being 7% higher than last year at this point. The average selling price of …