UK housebuilder Persimmon Plc said it expected annual earnings to be at the upper end of forecasts after a bigger-than-expected rise in home completions and added that the start to 2026 had been "encouraging".
Completions for calendar 2025 rose 12% to 11,905, beating forecasts of 11,299, with average selling prices up 4%. Persimmon is guiding for underlying profit before tax of £415m to £440m, according to a company compiled estimate.
"We entered 2026 with a robust order book. While we are not expecting any material improvement in market conditions this year, early indications from our Boxing Day marketing campaign are encouraging," Persimmon said in a trading update on Tuesday.
"Recent reductions in mortgage rates are helpful for our private customers although we remain mindful of continued affordability constraints. In addition, fewer bulk sales in the order book, and continued challenges in the registered provider market, are likely to slow our growth in these markets in 2026."
Persimmon said it welcomed the Labour government's changes to the planning system, "although these will take time to fully take effect", and added that it was on track to achieve current market expectations for 2026 of underlying profit before tax in a range of £461m to £487m.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com