Persimmon restores div; £70.7 million write-back

Published 24th Aug 2010

British housebuilder Persimmon said it would restore its dividend and unveiled a write-back of 70.7 million pounds after swinging to a profit in the first half.

The York-based builder reported an underlying pretax profit of 39.4 million pounds ($61.44 million) compared with a loss 16.7 million pounds last year on Tuesday.

The average full-year pretax profit estimate is 77.57 million pounds, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 15 analysts.

"We expect annual volume growth of new home sales to continue to be steady in line with any general improvement in the economy," said Persimmon in a statement on Tuesday.

Persimmon, which signed a joint-venture with property regeneration company St Modwen Properties (SMP.L), unveiled a write-back of 70.7 million pounds, compared with 27.9 million last year.

Smaller rival Bovis Homes, which announced its intention to restore its dividend in July, said on Monday that sales rate have held up during the key summer period.

Persimmon said previously that completions rose 16 percent in the six month period year-on-year to 4,657 homes, with the average selling price rising by 8 percent to 168,500 pounds.

Confidence in the economy has taken a sharp knock since Britain's coalition government revealed plans to slash spending by as much as a quarter to bring ballooning national debt under control.

Shares in Persimmon closed at 346.6 pence on Monday, after dropping to a near 15-month low, valuing the company at 1.02 billion pounds.

Source: ' ''Reuters'' '

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