REG - Persimmon Plc - AGM Trading Statement

PersimmonAnnouncement

Today 07:02

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
https://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20260430:nRSd4681Ca&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 4681C  Persimmon PLC  30 April 2026

 

30 April 2026

AGM Trading Statement

 

Persimmon Plc is today providing an update on trading for the period from 1
January 2026 to 26 April 2026, ahead of its Annual General Meeting ("AGM")
which is being held at 11.00am today in York.

 

Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, commented:

 

"Persimmon has started the year well, building on our strong performance in
2025, with an improved private sales rate and an increase in average selling
prices. As a result, our private forward sales are up 7% on the prior year.

 

"The ongoing conflict in Iran, and resultant geopolitical and economic
uncertainty, has not had any material impact on trading to date. However, we
are mindful of its potential impact, including on consumer confidence, and
there are early signs of increased inflationary pressure. We are carefully
monitoring the situation, driving sales across all brands and tenures,
maintaining flexibility and a rigorous focus on cost control and cash
generation, whilst being supported by a robust balance sheet.

 

"Our three strong brands, unique vertically integrated model and high-quality
landbank continue to differentiate Persimmon and position us well for growth
into the medium term."

 

Highlights

                                                            2026      2025      Change
 Net private sales per outlet per week(1)                   0.76      0.74      +3%
 Current forward sales(2)                                   £2.46bn   £2.34bn   +5%
 Of which private forward sales(2)                          £1.80bn   £1.68bn   +7%
 Average outlets                                            273       268       +2%
 Land holdings (plots owned and under control) at 31 March  c.84,900  c.83,800  +1%

 

(1)Net private sales per outlet per week excluding bulk sales of 0.67 (2025:
0.65)

(2)Current forward sales, including year to date legal completions, is stated
as at 26 April 2026 for 2026 and as at 27 April 2025 for 2025

 

Trading

The Group has traded well since the start of the year, in line with the
Board's expectations, with net private sales per outlet per week excluding
bulk sales up 3% to 0.67 (2025: 0.65).

 

Our private forward sales have increased by 7% to £1.80bn with a private
average selling price of c.£306,900, up 5% compared to the same point last
year. Overall pricing on reservations remains robust, with total incentives
continuing to run at around 4-5% on average.

 

We have a strong land bank as a result of the investment made in recent years
and, given the current backdrop, we are now being even more disciplined in our
acquisition of new land. We continue to have good planning success with 3,080
plots achieving detailed or reserved matters approval in the first quarter
(2025: 2,781), supporting our growth ambition of operating from at least 300
outlets.

 

Outlook

We have started 2026 well, with the investment made in the business over
recent years enabling us to deliver an improved sales rate and increased
forward order book. To date, we have not experienced any material impact from
the heightened macroeconomic uncertainty on either our supply chain or our
sales rates.

We continue to be mindful of the potential effects on consumer confidence and
affordability, with some increases in mortgage rates seen since early March.
While enquires have softened slightly in the last few weeks, sales have
remained resilient and our interactions with institutional customers in both
the affordable and build-to-rent sectors remain positive, with 19 new partners
added over the last 12 months. This demonstrates the benefit and resilience of
our three-brand strategy.

There are early signs of increased inflation in the supply chain, driven by
higher energy costs, which are likely to impact the second half of 2026 and
into 2027. We are looking to mitigate these where possible through our strong
relationships with our suppliers and subcontractors, while continuing to
benefit from our low-cost vertically integrated model. In addition, we are
reviewing costs within the business to ensure we remain as efficient as
possible.

The duration and full consequences of the conflict remain unknown. We will
continue to monitor developments and provide a further update with our half
year results in August. Assuming market conditions do not materially
deteriorate, we anticipate delivering profit before tax in line with
consensus(1) and completions of between 12,000 and 12,500 homes in 2026. Of
these 2026 completions, over half of our private homes and almost all our
housing association homes are already secured.

 

Our investment into our three strong brands, our vertical integration
capabilities and high-quality land bank, along with continued progress on our
building safety remediation programme, support our objective to increase
margins, returns and shareholder value over the medium term.

 

For further information please contact:

 Victoria Prior, Group IR Director            Giles Kernick, Teneo

 Anthony Vigor, Group Director of Strategic   Olivia Lucas, Teneo

 Partnerships and External Affairs

 Persimmon Plc                                persimmon@teneo.com
 Tel: +44 (0) 1904 642199                     Tel: +44 (0) 7817 913 082

 

(1)Company compiled full year 2026 consensus as at 26 April of 12,205 homes
with underlying profit before tax of £462m.

 

Appendix:

                2026             2025             Variance
 Forward sales  Value     Homes  Value     Homes  Value  Homes
 Private        £1.80bn   5,857  £1.68bn   5,714  +7%    +3%
 Partnership    £0.66bn   4,111  £0.66bn   4,067  -%     +1%
 Total          £2.46bn   9,968  £2.34bn   9,781  +5%    +2%

( )

Current forward sales, including year to date legal completions, is stated as
at 26 April 2026 for 2026 figures and as at 27 April 2025 for 2025 figures.

 

Cautionary statements

Some of the information in this document may contain projections or other
forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial
performance of Persimmon Plc and its subsidiaries (the Group). You can
identify forward-looking statements by the terms such as "expect", "believe",
"anticipate", "estimate", "intend", "will", "could", "may" or "might", the
negative of such terms or similar expressions. Persimmon Plc (the Company)
wishes to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that
actual events or results may differ materially and as such undue reliance
should not be placed on these statements. The Company does not intend to
update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after
the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Many
factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those
contained in projections or forward-looking statements of the Group, including
among others, general economic conditions, the competitive environment as well
as many other risks specifically related to the Group and its operations. Past
performance of the Group cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.

 

Please see the most recent Annual Report and Accounts of Persimmon plc and
other disclosures through the Regulatory News Service ("RNS") for further
details of risks, uncertainties and other factors relevant to the business and
its securities.

 

The information in this trading statement is unaudited.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTFLFLRSSIAFIR



            Copyright 2019 Regulatory News Service, all rights reserved