Stock Spotlight: Persimmon on steady foundations despite market headwinds

Revenue for H1 fell 8.2%

Persimmon, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, reporting that its revenue for the six months fell 8.2% to £1.69bn in its half-yearly results, driven by lower completions as delays in planning consent held back new outlet openings.

However, Oli Creasey, property research analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said that the firm's results showed "a company that is still very much on track despite a number of headwinds facing the UK housing market". Inflation in building materials has been offset by higher house prices, with the firm continuing to target about 10% growth and up to 15,000 builds for the whole of 2022. However, Creasey noted: "Sales rates were relatively low, with the company only selling 6,623 homes in the period. That is a relatively low volume for the UK's largest public builder (compared to 7,400 in the fi...