Revenues at housebuilder Persimmon rose 13 per cent least year as the number of homes it built across the UK rose, helped by a government drive to increase home ownership.
The York-based FTSE 100 company said in a trading statement on Thursday that it had completed 14,572 new homes in 2015, up 8 per cent from the previous year.
Completions were particularly strong in the second half of 2015, which were 13 per cent higher than the final six months of 2014.
Revenues for 2015 of £2.9 billion were 13 per cent higher than the previous year while the group’s average selling price increased 4.5 per cent to £199,100.
The statement said that the opening of a new business base in Perth on Monday, along with a second in Cornwall, would help support the group’s expected “disciplined” growth in 2016.
John Cassie, Persimmon’s chairman for Scotland, said: “Our new office in Perth will help to sustain our continued growth in Scotland with 16 new developments opening in the first half of this year in towns and villages that include Bridge of Weir, Cambuslang, Wallyford, Leith and Perth.”
Persimmon is the UK’s second largest housebuilder by volume and employs 4,500 people of which 500 are currently directly employed in Scotland. The company expects this to rise in 2016 as it increases the number of homes it builds north of the border.
Persimmon will release its final financial results for 2015 on 23 February 23.
Persimmon’s former chief executive Mike Farley, who retired in 2013, was in August awarded a £20 million share payout as part of the company’s executive incentive scheme. The payout caused controversy last summer amid a housing crisis that is pushing up house prices and rents nationwide.
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