HALF YEAR RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 JUNE 2025

Continued growth on a differentiated platform; on track for the full year

Persimmon Plc today announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2025.

Financial highlights

Statutory measures

Operational highlights

Current trading and outlook

In the five weeks since 30 June 2025, net private sales rates excluding bulk have been 0.61, compared to 0.55 for the same period last year (including bulk 2025: 0.68; 2024: 0.69). Given our progress in opening new outlets this equates to weekly sales of 188 compared to 183 in the same period last year. Our current private forward order book² is up 11% at £1.25bn at a private average sales price of c.£292,800, up 1.3% on the prior year. Including Partnerships, our total current forward order book² is up 9% at £1.86bn. We are now c.80% secured on private completions and fully secured on Partnerships completions for the full year⁴, positioning us well as we enter the second half of the year. Overall, while we are mindful of geopolitical events and challenging market conditions, including uncertainty in advance of the Budget, we continue to expect to deliver between 11,000 and 11,500 completions for the full year with a housing operating margin of between 14.2% and 14.5%, enabling us to deliver strong underlying profit growth over two years.

Our sustained activity in the land market, combined with our on-going planning success, have further strengthened our land bank and grown our sales outlets. Given our investment and improvement in our key capabilities, we currently expect volume to grow to c.12,000 units in 2026 with operating margin progression similar to 2025 positioning us well for another year of good profit growth. As we look ahead, the pace of margin progression will be impacted by diminishing embedded build cost inflation, on-going affordability constraints and increased industry-wide costs. However, with a stable housing market, we remain confident of further growth in outlets, volume and profit.  

Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive, said:

"I am pleased that we have continued to grow in the first half of the year despite challenging market conditions and with affordability still an important constraint. Our average sales price, sales, completions, planning approvals, active sites and forward order book are all up, many against industry trends, showing that our strategy including a focus on self-help has continued to deliver. An improvement in operating profit and return on capital demonstrate the benefit of our on-going operational discipline.  

"We continue to invest in our key capabilities to further strengthen this growing platform. Disciplined investment in land is being complemented by planning success to secure additional site openings. Our vertical integration strengths have been further enhanced, with more efficiency benefits to come. Our three-brand strategy is helping to increase sales, with investment in marketing seeking to drive further growth.

"We are on course to deliver our previously guided range of 11,000-11,500 completions this year. While mindful of macroeconomic volatility we remain focused on driving further improvements to secure the medium-term growth ambitions we set out in March.

"Given our strong progress with building safety remediation, we anticipate being able to review our capital allocation policy when the programme of works is substantially complete."

Footnotes

1      Stated before net exceptional charge of £16.2m (2024: £2.0m), as set out in note 4, and goodwill impairment (2025: £2.0m, 2024: £0.9m). Margin based on new housing revenue (2025: £1.31bn, 2024: £1.17bn).

2      2025 figure as at 3 August 2025; 2024 figure as at 4 August 2024.

3      Persimmon figure based on all buildings across Great Britain; Industry figure based on MHCLG data for England in June 2025 published on 17 July 2025.

4      Relative to company compiled consensus for 2025 as at 6 August 2025 (Total volume 11,332 homes, underlying operating profit of £446m).  

For further information please contact:

There will be an analyst and investor presentation at 09.00 today, hosted by Dean Finch, Group Chief Executive and Andrew Duxbury, Chief Financial Officer.

Analysts unable to attend in person may listen live via webcast using the link below. All participants must pre-register to join the webcast. Once registered, an email will be sent with important details for this event, as well as a unique Registrant ID. This ID is to be kept confidential and not shared with other participants.

Live webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/tes8na9j/  

An archived webcast of today's analyst presentation will be available from this afternoon on www.persimmonhomes.com/corporate.

Our next scheduled update is on 13 November 2025.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW

Strengthened platform; positioned for growth

Overview

Persimmon's strategy is delivering. Our efforts in recent years have been focused on areas within our control - strengthening our land bank, improving our planning approach, increasing use of our unique vertical integration and investment in sales - all while maintaining a strong balance sheet and our commercial discipline, building a strong and sustainable platform for the future.

In the first six months of the year, this enabled us to grow our outlet base to 277 sales outlets (up 4% on June 2024), deliver a 7% increase in private completions (4% growth in total completions), and grow underlying operating profit¹ by 13%.

Our marketing campaigns are generating increased traffic to sites and online, and we have taken proactive steps to address affordability challenges including taking reservations through our "New Build Boost" product. In addition, our relaunched Charles Church offering is performing well and we have a strong pipeline of new outlets. Overall, the net private sales rate per outlet per week excluding bulk was up 5% to 0.62 in the first half (2024: 0.59).

Our sustained improvement in customer service continues, with our 5-star homebuilder status retained for a fourth consecutive year and both Charles Church and Persimmon Homes operating at 'Excellent' with 4.6 stars on Trustpilot.

We have also continued to invest in innovation and vertical integration in the first half of the year, with our new automated production line at our existing Space4 factory now operational and further enhancements planned for the second half of the year. A live trial of the Mauer facade with our Space4 timber frame is due to commence later this month for one of our Build to Rent ('BTR') partners.

We are well placed to capture further opportunities. Persimmon benefits from a strong balance sheet and a secure and growing pipeline of outlets, complemented by the strength of our longer-term strategic land holdings. Overall, while we are mindful of macroeconomic volatility, we have made good progress in the first half and the business is positioned for further growth. We remain on track to deliver 11,000-11,500 completions for the full year with a housing operating margin of 14.2%-14.5%, in line with previous guidance. As outlined in March, our ambition remains to achieve a 20% housing operating margin and 20% ROCE over the medium-term.

Trading performance

We delivered 4,605 completions in the first half of the year, a 4% increase on the same period last year (2024: 4,445) driven by strong growth in private completions, up 7%. The Group's average sales price on completions rose 8% to £284,047 (2024: £263,288) driven by a greater proportion of private home completions and robust private average sales prices in the period.

This performance is particularly pleasing given the challenging market environment that we are operating in. There have been some positive developments in the first half of the year, with targeted relaxation of some lending rules and real term pay rises helping to improve affordability for some. Nonetheless, this has been balanced with the impact of council tax, national insurance, stamp duty and energy bill increases in April, alongside macroeconomic uncertainty weighing on consumer sentiment. While interest and mortgage rates have reduced, they are at levels that still present a barrier to many potential customers. Our homes are well placed in the market, with prices significantly below our largest competitors, and we have sought to make them more accessible to more customers by improving the range of affordable routes to homeownership.

Throughout the first half, our marketing campaigns continued to generate healthy traffic to sites and online, with website visitors up c.20% and enquiries up c.13% in the period. To meet the diverse needs of our customers, we offer a wide range of incentives, including our innovative 'Flexi Boost' concept and the recently introduced New Build Boost product in partnership with Generation Home. This shared equity product is supporting customers with affordability constraints, reflecting our on-going commitment to innovative, customer-focused solutions.

Our efforts translated into a 5% increase in the net private sales rate per outlet excluding bulk to 0.62 for the first half (2024: 0.59). Including bulk sales, the total net private sales rate was 0.70 per outlet per week (2024: 0.71) in the period, equivalent to 191 sales per week up 3% compared to H1 2024 (186 per week). Private average sales prices on reservations taken in the six-month period were up 5% with incentives controlled at c.4.5% on gross reservations (2024: c.4.5%). Pricing dynamics remain more favourable in the North and Scotland, with affordability challenges persisting particularly in the South where price growth has been more modest.

Given the challenging market backdrop and continued but diminishing embedded cost headwinds, we are delighted to have achieved 13% growth in underlying operating profit¹ in the period, supported by our vertical integration and operational efficiencies. These unique capabilities have helped underpin our performance and will help drive further growth. We continue to anticipate that build cost inflation will be in the low single digits this year, as we have been able to leverage our position as a growing business in a subdued market to secure preferential commercial terms.

High quality land bank and growing outlets

Our progress in the land market continues to highlight the strength of our disciplined investment approach, with a spend of £210m during the period, up from £195m in the same period last year. We have successfully added 5,729 new plots to our owned and under control land holdings, achieving a replacement rate of 124% and maintaining excellent embedded margins within our land bank. Combined with our success in planning this is providing us with the platform for further growth into the medium term.

While we are yet to see material benefits from the government's planning reform, we remain encouraged that they will start to benefit planning approvals in time. We have continued to focus on actions we can take in the meantime and continue to find innovative solutions to planning blockages. A recent instance is at the Lakenheath site in Suffolk, where a 2.3 hectare habitat will be developed to support the local stone curlew population and other priority species, facilitating planning approval for 139 zero-carbon ready homes.

In total, we secured detailed or reserved matters planning for 5,066 plots in the period, including c.2,000 plots that originated from our strategic land holdings. Over the last rolling 12 months we have achieved 23% more detailed or reserved matters planning approvals than in the previous 12 months, ahead of industry trends. We continue to see further opportunities for near-term conversion from our strategic land bank and have now identified 50 sites where we believe there is potential to accelerate delivery, 31 of which are currently proceeding towards a planning application.

During the period we also achieved outline planning approval on our 1,000+ homes strategic land site at Elms Park in Cheltenham, which we purchased in October last year. This is an excellent site for us, with strong sales rates on our neighbouring site and the potential for all three brands to be used to deliver net zero carbon ready homes.

Our sustained, disciplined investment in land coupled with our planning approvals success is positioning the business for future growth. We opened 55 new outlets (2024: 44 outlets) and ended the period with 277 outlets, a 4% increase from the previous year (2024: 266 outlets), as the wider sector has reduced outlet numbers. With a strong pipeline and plans to open around 45 more outlets in the second half of 2025, we are on track to achieve our goal of at least 300 outlets, positioning us for continued success and growth.

Three strong brands providing diversification

We have three strong brands across the business in Persimmon Homes, Charles Church and Westbury Partnerships, each serving a different segment of the market and providing a diversified pool of customers to sell our homes to.

Our core Persimmon brand remains attractive to a wide range of customers. Our disciplined approach means we consistently offer homes at prices significantly below our largest competitors, with a focus on quality and accessible homeownership. This positions us as a compelling alternative to second-hand properties, particularly given our smaller, more efficient house types and innovative purchasing options. By leveraging our unique vertical integration and careful material choices, we have supported margins while delivering value and affordability for a broad range of customers. These foundations underpin the continued appeal of our developments and aid growth. Private completions under the Persimmon brand were up 5% in the period benefiting from our enhanced marketing initiatives and the success of our growing network of outlets.

Charles Church, our premium offering, has gained significant momentum, especially following the brand's relaunch at Harlestone Grange in March. In the first half of this year, Charles Church private completions increased by 20%. Recognising the brand's appeal, we are actively pursuing opportunities for both standalone and dual-branded sites and expanding into new regions. As of 30 June, we had 53 Charles Church sites, 35 of which were dual branded. Our ambition remains to double the number of completions delivered under our higher margin Charles Church brand over the medium-term.

The reputation we have built by consistently improving our product range, build quality, and customer service continues to open doors to new partnerships and opportunities including through our Westbury brand. While completions to housing associations were, as anticipated, lower in the first half of the year at 618 homes (2024: 703), this largely reflects timing, with delivery of homes in this segment accelerated in previous years. We expect full year housing association completions to be ahead of 2024 and are fully secured.

The government's recent affordable housing funding announcements provide some longer-term certainty to the market. The Spending Review's allocation of £39bn to the Affordable Homes Programme ('AHP') and confirmation of a CPI+1% rent settlement, both over 10 years, have been welcomed by the sector. We will assess their full benefit when more detail becomes available. The precise funding available for the next AHP beginning in April 2026 is still yet to be announced, including how it will support the government's commitment for 60% of all new homes funded through the programme to be Social Rent. With significant financial pressures on-going for many Registered Providers, it will be important to closely monitor how the rent settlement and other related announcements improve their appetite for s106 properties in the coming years.

The institutional investor and BTR markets present a good opportunity for long-term, capital-efficient sales and we delivered 590 homes in the first half for our partners (2024: 524). Savills research recently showed that BTR made up 8% of all new build sales in England and Wales last year. Our improved reputation in this market has allowed us to expand our collaborations to include 14 new partners this year. These strategic partnerships not only diversify our revenue streams but also accelerate delivery and enhance our capital returns.

Through the combination of these three strong brands, customer segments, and market channels, we have built a robust, adaptable business to support our medium-term growth.

Build quality and customer service

Persimmon's focus on consistent delivery of high-quality homes through Build Right, First Time, Every Time in recent years has been crucial for both customer service and cost-efficiency. Continued investment in digitalisation of on-site build processes is helping drive further improvement in build quality and efficiency, health and safety management and engagement with our customers.

We are delighted to have maintained our 5-star HBF rating, awarded to us for the fourth year running in March. This demonstrates the embedded culture of consistently delivering high-quality homes. For the new survey year, our HBF 8-week customer satisfaction score² is currently 93.8%, reflecting our on-going focus on the quality of our customers' experience. This is further reflected in our Trustpilot scores which are our highest ever, with both Persimmon Homes and Charles Church rated 'Excellent' at 4.6 stars (December 2024: Persimmon 4.5 star; Charles Church 4.4 star).

The investment into our sales and marketing teams is showing tangible benefits, with mystery shopping scores improving 7% compared with the second half of 2024. Since December 2022, customer consideration is now up 26% with trust in the Persimmon brand up 17%.

We also saw further improvements on build quality during the period with our Construction Quality Review scores⁴ up 4% and Reportable Items³ maintained at 0.23 (2024: 0.23).

Innovation & vertical integration

Our vertical integration capabilities have been a core strength that we are enhancing and we believe that expanded off-site manufacture will be essential in delivering our growth ambitions. We have invested in our existing factories to expand the use of their cost-effective products across the business and will expand their use further, securing and sustaining cost advantages in the coming years. We are complementing this investment with a digitalised operational system that provides greater control of build programme, costs and contractor management.

The investment in Brickworks, Tileworks and Space4 has enhanced the range and quality of the cost-effective, high-quality materials they supply to the business. The typical per plot cost saving if our own bricks, tiles and timber frame products are used is up to £5,500. By investing in these products, we are enhancing security of supply and improving build and cost efficiency.

Our new generation brick has proved popular, including amongst a growing number of local authorities, with a third shift now added at the Brickworks factory to meet the increased demand. In the first half of the year, we delivered 27.4m bricks to site, up 25% on last year. With the factory now operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, we will be expanding its capacity next year with an additional production line to be added.

Our own tile is now the first option for every region, except where local planning rules require an alternative product. Demand has again grown this year, with 5.7m tiles delivered to site, up 62% on last year. If current growth projections are met, we anticipate adding a third shift next year, further enhancing cost efficiency.

In the first half of the year, we installed a new state-of-the-art automated timber frame line at our Birmingham Space4 factory. We believe this is the most advanced timber frame line in the country, enhancing both operational efficiency and the consistency of frame quality. An automated roof truss line will open later this year, expanding the range of products Space4 offers.

This investment reflects the significant growth in demand for the product. In the first half of the year Space4 provided 1,703 timber frame products as well as 457 roof cassettes. Further expanding timber frame use is a priority, with seven new regions set to start using the product within the next six months. Anticipating this additional demand, we are due to start work on our second Space4 factory in Loughborough before the end of the year. This new factory - again using the latest state-of-the-art automated technology - will increase overall capacity and expand the range of products produced.

We will shortly start an on-site trial combining our timber frame with the Mauer brick facade product for one of our BTR customers. The combination of timber frames produced in our new factory and the Mauer facade provides the opportunity for a significant step-up in housing output, while securing additional savings through lower off-site manufacturing costs and even faster build times.

Another area of innovation has been significant investment in new digital operational management tools. These are already strengthening operational controls and driving new cost efficiencies, with new opportunities constantly sought. On-site digitalisation of material management, quality assurance and the real time monitoring of trade and labour levels is providing a granular level of control that benefits cost efficiency and operational planning. Management teams now have real time tracking of trade activity on site to assure themselves they have the necessary labour to deliver their programme. This data also allows us to plan future build programmes using clear evidence, enhancing build efficiency and providing delivery assurance.

These enhanced on-site digital tools are also allowing greater cost controls, such as with dayworks. As well as enhancing the monitoring of costs, it is enabling our new Chief Commercial Officer to interrogate comparative spending across the Group and identify best practice and cost savings opportunities. With more granular and comprehensive cost comparison data, we believe there is real opportunity to drive significant operational efficiencies.

Current trading and outlook

In the five weeks since 30 June 2025, net private sales rates excluding bulk have been 0.61, compared to 0.55 for the same period last year (including bulk 2025: 0.68; 2024: 0.69). Given our progress in opening new outlets this equates to weekly sales of 188 compared to 183 in the same period last year. Our current private forward order book⁵ is up 11% at £1.25bn at a private average sales price of c.£292,800, up 1.3% on the prior year. Including Partnerships, our total current forward order book⁵ is up 9% at £1.86bn. We are now c.80% secured on private completions and fully secured on partnerships completions for the full year⁶, positioning us well as we enter the second half of the year. Overall, while we are mindful of geopolitical events and challenging market conditions, including uncertainty in advance of the Budget, we continue to expect to deliver between 11,000 and 11,500 completions for the full year with a housing operating margin of between 14.2% and 14.5%, enabling us to deliver strong underlying profit growth over two years.

Our sustained activity in the land market, combined with our on-going planning success, have further strengthened our land bank and grown our sales outlets. Given our investment and improvement in our key capabilities, we currently expect volume to grow to c.12,000 units in 2026 with operating margin progression similar to 2025 positioning us well for another year of good profit growth. As we look ahead, the pace of margin progression will be impacted by diminishing embedded build cost inflation, on-going affordability constraints and increased industry-wide costs. However, with a stable housing market, we remain confident of further growth in outlets, volume and profit. 

Dean Finch

Group Chief Executive

12 August 2025

Footnotes

1.     Stated before net exceptional charge of £16.2m (2024: £2.0m), as set out in note 4, and goodwill impairment (2025: £2.0m, 2024: £0.9m) and margin based on new housing revenue (2025: £1.31bn, 2024: £1.17bn).

2.     The Group participates in a National New Homes Survey, run by the Home Builders Federation. The rating system is based on the number of customers who would recommend their builder to a friend.

3.     A Reportable Item is an area of non-compliance with NHBC standards. The item is rectified fully before completion of the home.

4.     NHBC independent site-based review of quality of construction.

5.     2025 figure as at 3 August 2025; 2024 figure as at 4 August 2024.

6.     Relative to company compiled consensus for 2025 as at 6 August 2025 (Total volume 11,332 homes, underlying operating profit of £446m).

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Trading

The Group generated total revenue¹ of £1.50bn (2024: £1.32bn), with new housing revenue of £1.31bn (2024: £1.17bn).

The Group delivered 4,605 new homes (2024: 4,445) at an average sales price of £284,047 (2024: £263,288) which is 8% higher year on year, reflecting robust pricing and a greater proportion of private homes than the prior period.

The Group delivered 3,987 new homes to its private customers, up 7% (2024: 3,742) at an average sales price of £302,476 (2024: £281,859), up 7% as a result of a greater proportion of Charles Church completions and robust pricing. Affordability continues to be a challenge for customers, particularly first-time buyers which represented 34% of private completions in the first half (2024: 31%), and our new shared equity product is helping address this. We continue to engage with our institutional investors and BTR partners, and these represented 590 homes of our private delivery in the first half (2024: 524).

The Group delivered 618 homes for our housing association partners (2024: 703), at an average sales price of £165,154 (2024: £164,432). The reduction in housing association homes compared to the prior year largely reflects timing, with delivery of homes in this segment accelerated in previous years. We are fully secured for our expected housing association delivery for the full year.

The Group's underlying housing gross margin² remained flat in the period at 20.1% (2024: 20.1%), with the impact of residual embedded build cost inflation continuing to be a feature in the period, as expected.

The Group's underlying gross profit³ for the period of £262.4m (2024: £235.4m) continues to be supported by the Group's well-established land replacement strategy, with land cost recoveries⁴ of 11.9% of new housing revenue for the period (2024: 12.1%). The Group's reported gross profit for the period is £262.4m (2024: £258.4m, stated after an exceptional release of £23.0m).

Underlying operating profit⁵ for the Group increased 13% on the prior year to £172.0m (2024: £152.3m), driven by higher gross profit. As expected, we saw a small improvement in the underlying housing operating margin⁶ to 13.1% (2024: 13.0%). The pace of future margin progression will be impacted by remaining embedded inflation, affecting most of our delivery in 2026. It is also impacted by on-going affordability constraints, our increased exposure to the BTR market and the increased cost of opening new outlets and regulation.  

On a reported basis, operating profit increased by 3% to £153.8m (2024: £149.4m) and is stated after an exceptional charge of £16.2m (2024: charge of £2.0m) relating to costs associated with the Competition and Markets Authority investigation and proposed settlement as announced on 9 July and goodwill impairment of £2.0m (2024: £0.9m). Further detail is provided in note 4 to the financial information.

Net finance costs increased in the period to £7.1m (2024: £3.1m) being a result of lower average cash balances, increased utilisation of our £700m Revolving Credit Facility ('RCF'), £4.5m of imputed interest payable on land creditors (2024: £1.5m) and £3.0m of imputed interest payable on the legacy buildings provision (2024: £3.0m).

The Group generated an underlying profit before tax⁵ of £164.9m (2024: £149.2m), up 11%, and a reported profit before tax of £146.7m (2024: £146.3m).

Underlying basic earnings per share⁵ was 36.8p, a 3% increase compared to the prior period (2024: 35.7p) reflecting a normalised tax charge in 2025. Reported basic earnings per share was 31.2p, 10% lower than the prior period last year (2024: 34.7p) including the effect of the exceptional cost related to the CMA investigation.

Underlying return on average capital employed⁷ as at 30 June 2025 was 11.2% (2024: 10.0%), demonstrating the resilience of the business and the continued investment made to support future growth. ROCE excluding land creditors was 12.5%⁷ (2024: 11.1%). On a statutory basis, ROCE including land creditors was 9.9%⁷ (2024: 9.9%).

FibreNest

On 14 May, we announced the proposed sale of FibreNest, our non-core full fibre broadband service, to BUUK Infrastructure, which provides full-fibre and multi-utility services to new build housing developments and will provide improved choice for our customers.

The discounted total enterprise value for the sale is c. £100m, with £70m received upon completion and further payments contingent on business performance over the coming years. The Board intends to use the proceeds from the sale of this non-core asset to invest further in its growth strategy as set out in March 2025. The sale will also remove the need for the on-going investment that FibreNest would have required in the coming years, providing additional capital for Persimmon to allocate to deliver its medium-term growth ambitions.

The sale completed on 5 August 2025, with a profit on disposal to be recognised as an exceptional item in the second half year.  

Building safety

During the period, we continued our proactive approach of working with management companies, factors (in Scotland) and their agents to carry out necessary remediation as soon as possible. The table below sets out our detailed position at 30 June 2025, compared to 31 December 2024.

We have assessed all relevant developments. As the table below demonstrates, developments are actively progressing through the programme. Of the total of 83 developments in our programme 41 (49%) have already seen any necessary works completed. Of the remaining 42, 23 currently have work on site and 19 are at varying stages of pre-tender, live tender, contract negotiation or agreed contract and works commencing soon. This means that 77% of developments have either had works started or completed equivalent to over 80% of the total number of buildings.

*Spend for 6 months to June 2025, 12 months to December 2024

In the period we spent £30.7m on the programme (2024: £24.7m), with total expenditure now over £150m. Given our own proactive approach and the sustained and significant publicity around cladding and building safety, we do not anticipate significant new building additions into the programme. We believe our existing provision remains sufficient, although we note some inflationary pressures in this part of the supply chain, as well as potential for increased scope of works and that we still have 19 developments to start. Importantly, we remain on track to conclude the majority of our works in the next two years. We are actively pursuing claims against relevant third parties to recover costs associated with building safety, although no estimate has been made in our existing provision.

Competition and Markets Authority

As announced on 9 July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority ('CMA') announced its intention to close its investigation into Persimmon, along with six other UK housebuilders, accepting voluntary commitments from all parties. The CMA has not made any findings that Persimmon Plc and its group companies has infringed UK competition law and the voluntary commitments offered do not constitute an admission of any wrongdoing. As part of these commitments, Persimmon will make an ex-gratia financial contribution of £15.2m to the Government's Affordable Homes Programme. This has been accounted for in the period as an exceptional cost.

Balance sheet

Total equity decreased to £3,485m from £3,507m at 31 December 2024, including recognising the liability associated with the payment of the final dividend for 2024, paid in July. Retained earnings decreased to £2.91bn, (December 2024: £2.94bn). Reported net assets per share of 1,088p represents a small decrease from 1,096p at 31 December 2024.

Land holdings

Persimmon's disciplined and expert land buying is a core strength of the business. We maintained our selective land purchase strategy in the first half, positioning us well for the future as we look to grow our outlet position. As at 30 June 2025, we had 277 sales outlets, up from 270 outlets at the start of the year. We remain on track to open around 45 gross new outlets in the second half as we position the business for growth over the medium term.

At 30 June 2025, the carrying value of the Group's land assets had increased by 1% to £2,289m (December 2024: £2,266m), reflecting continued investment in the Group's future and our on-going success at achieving implementable planning permissions. The Group's land cost recoveries for the period of 11.9%⁴ of new housing revenue is 20bps lower than the prior year, reflecting the mix of completions in the period, and remains an excellent position. 

Overall, land spend in the period was £209.6m, (2024: £194.5m) of which £100.5m related to the settlement of land creditors (2024: £113.3m). In total, we brought 5,729 plots across 24 sites into our owned and under control land holdings in the period (2024: 4,625 plots) with 787 of these plots converted from our strategic land portfolio and sites balanced across the country.

At the end of June, the Group had owned and under control land holdings of 82,504 plots (December 2024: 82,084) representing 7.7 years of forward supply at 2024 volumes. Owned plots totalled 67,636 (December 2024: 69,189), with an overall pro-forma site gross margin⁸ of c.29% (December 2024: c.29%) and a land cost to revenue ratio of 12.0%⁹ (December 2024: 11.9%) which provides good confidence for future margin progression. Of these, 40,566 have a detailed implementable planning consent, providing excellent visibility.

In addition to its owned plots, the Group controls 14,868 plots (December 2024: 12,895) through exchanged contracts. These contracts to acquire the site will be completed once all outstanding unfulfilled planning conditions have been satisfied. Cash invested in these under control plots is limited to deposits paid on the exchange of contracts and fees associated with progressing the sites through the planning system.

In the first half, the Group acquired interests in a further c.6,200 potential plots of strategic land opportunities resulting in a total of c.75,000 plots at 30 June 2025 (December 2024: c.70,000 plots). This will provide a long-term supply of forward plots for future development by the Group.

Our strategy of continuing to be active in the land market over the past few years is allowing us to grow our outlet base in the short to medium-term, a key differentiator for our business.

Work in progress

At 30 June 2025, the Group had work in progress of c.4,870 equivalent units of new home construction, an increase on the position at the start of the year (December 2024: c.3,680, June 2024: c.4,440) reflecting normal seasonality with a stronger delivery expected in the second half of the year. Our disciplined work in progress investment aligns build levels with customer demand and on average, overall weekly build rates tracked 22% higher in the period, with 228 equivalent units of build per week compared to 187 per week in the first half of 2024. Our in-house production of essential materials, including bricks, roof tiles and timber frame kits is a key strength of the business and we are further increasing capacity at each of our factories to support our future growth ambitions.

Our work in progress investment of £1.69bn at 30 June 2025 increased £268.4m compared to 31 December 2024 (£1.43bn).

As at 30 June 2025, we owned 757 part exchange properties (December 2024: 739 properties) at a carrying value of £163.8m (December 2024: £154.4m), of which most had already been reserved for onward sale. Part exchange continues to be a key sales incentive for our customers, and we are progressing sales of part exchange properties promptly at around expected values.

Cash generation and liquidity

During the period, we continued our targeted investment into the business to enhance quality, efficiency and returns in line with our strategic objectives. As the Group invests in further growth, our long-standing financial discipline will continue in all land appraisals and decisions to open outlets. The Group will continue to maintain a robust balance sheet, with low leverage.

The Group had a cash balance of £123.0m at 30 June 2025 (December 2024: £258.6m) with land creditors of £401.1m (December 2024: £423.2m), of which c.£140m is expected to be paid by the end of this year.

The Group generated £182.9m of cash from operating activities in the period (2024: £164.7m), before investing £243.1m in working capital (being principally £268.4m in net work in progress, a £30.7m utilisation of the legacy buildings provision and a net £26.6m reduction in land creditors). This investment in work in progress along with the Group's healthy liquidity will provide further opportunities to continue to support the future growth of the business.

The Group's shared equity loans have generated £1.9m of cash in the period (2024: £1.9m). The carrying value of these outstanding shared equity loans, reported as 'shared equity loan receivables', is £27.2m at 30 June (December 2024: £29.0m). 

The Group's defined benefit net pension asset has increased to £133.5m at 30 June 2025 (December 2024: £130.7m).

The Group has a robust balance sheet with high quality land holdings, strong levels of work in progress investment and healthy levels of liquidity. We continue to exert disciplined control over work in progress while investing to strengthen our platform for future growth. We currently anticipate net cash at year end will be between £nil and £200m, in line with previous guidance.

Capital Allocation

The Group's capital allocation policy is to deliver sustainable returns to shareholders, investing in future growth through disciplined expansion of our land portfolio while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

On 11 July 2025, 40p per share (or £128.1m) of capital was returned to shareholders as a final cash dividend in respect of the financial year 2024 which was approved by shareholders at the AGM on 1 May 2025.

The Board has declared an interim dividend of 20p per share, which will be payable on 7 November 2025, to shareholders on the register on 17 October 2025. The Board's intention is, as a minimum, to maintain the 2024 dividend of 60p per share, with a view to growing this over time. 

Andrew Duxbury

Chief Financial Officer

12 August 2025

Footnotes

1.     The Group's total revenues include the fair value of consideration received or receivable on the sale of part exchange properties and income from the provision of broadband internet services. New housing revenues are the revenues generated on the sale of newly built residential properties only.  

2.     Stated before an exceptional release of £nil (2024: £23.0m), as set out in note 4 and based on new housing revenue (2025: £1.31bn, 2024: £1.17bn).

3.     Stated before an exceptional release of £nil (2024: £23.0m), as set out in note 4.

4.     Land cost value for the plot divided by the revenue of the new home sold.

5.     Stated before net exceptional charge of £16.2m (2024: £2.0m), as set out in note 4, and goodwill impairment (2025: £2.0m, 2024: £0.9m).

6.     Stated before net exceptional charge of £16.2m (2024: £2.0m), as set out in note 4, and goodwill impairment (2025: £2.0m, 2024: £0.9m) and based on new housing revenue (2025: £1.31bn, 2024: £1.17bn).

7.     12 month rolling average calculated on underlying operating profit and total capital employed. Underlying operating profit is stated before net exceptional charge of £48.6m (2024: £2.0m), as set out in note 4, and goodwill impairment (2025: £2.7m, 2024: £2.7m).

8.     Estimated weighted average gross margin based on assumed revenues and costs at 30 June 2025 and normalised output levels.

9.     Land cost value for the plot divided by the anticipated future revenue of the new home sold.

Appendices

Forward sales position - As at 30 June

Forward sales position - Current