Persimmon hires new chief finance officer as house builder’s revenue climbs to £3.61bn
House building firm Persimmon has appointed Jason Windsor as its new Chief Financial Officer as the company aims to be “the leading builder of good value, quality family homes in the UK”.
Windsor is expected to join in the summer and will also become an Executive Director on the Board.
He will succeed Mike Killoran, who announced in July 2021 that he would be retiring in mid-January 2022 after more than 25 years with the company.
Roger Devlin, Persimmon’s chairman, said about the appointment: “Jason is a well-respected and proven FTSE 100 CFO and we are delighted to have recruited someone of his calibre and experience as Chief Financial Officer to complement our strong management team.”
‘Fundamentals of the UK housing market remain strong’
It comes as the group also announces a confident trading update, having delivered total revenues of £3.61bn, up from £3.33bn in 2020.
New housing revenues of £3.45bn were 10 per cent ahead of last year and one per cent ahead of 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
The Group’s average selling price increased by 2.8 per cent over last year to around £237,050, reflecting in part the greater proportion of new homes sold to housing association partners compared with last year.
At £259,200, the average selling price of new homes sold to owner occupiers was three per cent ahead of the prior year, the underlying improvement in selling prices being diluted to a degree by the year on year changes in the regional mix of sales achieved.
The Group saw good levels of demand throughout the second half of the year underpinning positive pricing conditions.
Persimmon’s sales rates were 20 per cent higher than those in the second half of 2019 (a more comparable period given the pandemic-related disruption to the industry in 2020), reflecting Persimmon’s positioning in a strong market.
Customer enquiry levels have remained encouraging throughout the period despite the changes in the Government’s Help to Buy scheme and the stamp duty regime. Cancellation rates have remained in line with historical low levels throughout the period.
Its vertical integration through Brickworks, Tileworks and Space4 timber frame manufacturing facility has continued to assist in securing supply of key materials, as ongoing supply chain issues continue to plague the industry.
The Group’s forward sales at 31 December 2021 were £1.62bn, 20 per cent ahead of 2019.
Over 20,500 plots have been brought into the business during the year, representing over 140 per cent of current consumption levels, strengthening the Group’s UK wide network.
Dean Finch, group chief exec, commented on the results: “Whilst the industry continues to face the ongoing operational and economic challenges as a consequence of the pandemic, particularly as the Omicron outbreak unfolded in the last six weeks of the year, the Group continues to manage these ongoing challenges comprehensively. The long term fundamentals of the UK housing market remain strong and I am confident of Persimmon’s future success.”
Anthony Codling, chief exec at twindig, said about the results: “Like the housing market it supplies, Persimmon had a good year in 2021. The number of homes it sold and the prices it sold them for increased. As a result, profits are rising. Persimmon has been criticised in the past for putting profits ahead of people.”
“However, customer satisfaction like Persimmons’ profits are also increasing and since October last year, 92% of customers would recommend Persimmon to a friend. Persimmon is also doing the right thing by customers caught up in the cladding issue, last year it made a commitment that leaseholders in buildings it had constructed, including all those above 11 metres, should not have to cover the cost of cladding removal.”