Persimmon said that it fears the impact of political uncertainty on the house-building sector.
Group chief executive Jeff Fairburn said: “We are working very hard to convert as much of our strategic land as swiftly as possible. The risk of change to UK planning policies increases with the upcoming general election, with the ensuing increased uncertainty for decision making by local planning authorities in their communities.”
He continued: “The new national planning policy framework has started to improve the efficiency of the UK planning process and is gradually increasing the supply of land for residential use. Whatever the result of the next general election, a continuation of the new policy framework will be a key ingredient in supporting the required level of confidence that the house-building industry needs to continue to increase its output and make the further substantial investment required to facilitate this growth.
“We have substantial numbers of applications for residential land use submitted with the planning authorities across our regional businesses. We are confident that our strategic land portfolio of c. 17,000 acres will yield in excess of 100,000 forward plots for future development by the business in due course.”
Mr Fairburn’s comments came as Persimmon reported a 23% rise in revenues for 2014 to £2.6bn, up from £2.1bn in 2013. Pre-tax increased by 45% to £467m (2013: £323m).
The number of legal completions rose 17% in 2014 to 13,509 new homes (2013: 11,528), bringing the increase over the last two years to 36%.
The number of homes built using Persimmon’s Space4 factory-made kits increased by 21%. Approximately 5,100 new homes were built using Space4 closed-panel timber frames, compared to 4,204 in 2013.
There has been a good start to 2015 with 60 of the 120 new outlets planned for the first half of the year already open. By 30th June Persimmon aims to have construction underway at approximately 400 sites, an increase of 7% over the 375 active sites at the start of the year.
Current total forward sales, including legal completions taken so far in 2015, are £1,490m, 5% ahead of last year (2014: £1,424m).
Group chairman N icholas Wrigley said:"We have had an encouraging start to 2015 and experienced a solid opening period to the spring season with current total forward sales of £1,490m, 5% ahead of the previous year. Despite some uncertainty arising from the general election in May, the ongoing gradual improvement in the UK economy and increasing mortgage lender support provides a supportive backdrop for the new homes market.”
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