Persimmon’s chief executive Jeff Fairburn said that, despite increased uncertainty, customer interest since the vote has been “robust”.
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The U.K. housebuilder’s pretax profit for the six months ended June 30, rose 29% to 352.3 million pounds ($460.5 million) from GBP272.8 million a year earlier, helped by a 12% rise in revenue during the period to GBP1.49 billion from GBP1.33 billion.
FTSE 100 listed Persimmon said the outcome of the referendum on European Union membership had been “quickly digested” by customers, with reservations up 17% since then compared to the same period previous year.
Sales volumes increased by 6% to 7,238 new home legal completions (2015 H1: 6,855) with an average selling price 6% higher at £205,762 (2015 H1: £194,378).
“We expect these new sites to support further improvement in the group’s gross margins as home sales from these outlets are legally completed over coming months”, said chairman Nicholas Wrigley.
“Customer interest since then has been robust with a strengthening of visitor numbers to our sites compared to the same period past year”.
House builders have led the FTSE 100 higher after Persimmon (PSN) soothed fears over the impact of the “Brexit” vote on the housing market by posting reassuring results.
It added that the United Kingdom economy now enjoys “resilient employment levels and some improvement in real disposable incomes”.
Persimmon said it was now in its “traditionally slow summer weeks” of trading but that demand remained encouraging and that it anticipated good autumn sales.
Underlying operating margin also rose to 23.8 per cent in the first half, up from 20.5 per cent past year.
“We therefore continue to believe that cash generation will remain strong and that dividend payments to Persimmon’s shareholders are firmly underpinned”.
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Shares in Persimmon were up 3.1 per cent in early trading on Tuesday and are now trading 12 per cent below pre-Brexit highs.
