During the first six months of 2011 Persimmon has legally completed 4,439 homes (2010: 4,657). The year started slowly but picked up in the second quarter as the spring selling season kicked in.
For the year as a whole, the company expected to deliver a similar number of legal completions this year as in 2010, with an increase in volume in the second half over the prior year.
Turnover for the first six months was £715m. Order book at 30 June 2011 is now ahead of the same point last year with forward sales at £725m, placing the company in a strong position for the second half, it said.
Borrowings are down from £122m a year ago to just £15m now. Persimmon also arranged a new five year £300 million revolving credit facility during the first half of the year. “The combination of our strong liquidity and these new facilities on improved terms will lead to lower finance costs in future periods, supporting further growth in profitability.”
Persimmon said that it was seeing “modest improvement in mortgage lending with a greater number of higher loan to value products available in the market”. It has also secured £35m of funding from the government’s FirstBuy Scheme to support first time buyers in the market.
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