Excellent performance in 2017 with another year of disciplined high quality growth
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Legal completions increased by 872 new homes to 16,043 (2016: 15,171) and average selling price increased by 3.2% to £213,321 (2016: £206,765)
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Revenue for the year up 9% to £3.42bn (2016: £3.14bn)
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Operating margin* increased to 28.2% (2016: 24.8%); with second half improvement to 28.8%
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25% increase in underlying profit before tax* to £977.1m (2016: £782.8m)
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26% increase in underlying basic earnings per share* to 258.6p (2016: 205.6p)
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18% increase in cash generation (pre capital returns) to £806m (2016: £681m)
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51.5% return on average capital employed**, an increase of 31% (2016: 39.4%)
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17,301 plots of land acquired in the year, with 8,296 plots successfully converted from the Group's strategic land portfolio
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Net cash of £1,303m at 31 December 2017 (2016: £913m)
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10% increase in post tax return on equity to 26.5% (2016: 24.1%)
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7.5% increase in forward sales at £2.03bn (2017: £1.89bn)
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Interim and Final dividends declared of 125p and 110p per share respectively
And later;
The Directors propose to return 125 pence of surplus capital to shareholders for each ordinary share in issue held at 6.00pm on 9 March 2018 with payment made on 29 March 2018 as an interim dividend in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2017. This is an additional payment of surplus capital over and above the previously announced Capital Return Plan schedule. In line with the previously announced schedule, the Directors propose to return a further 110 pence of surplus capital to shareholders for each ordinary share in issue held at 6.00pm on 15 June 2018 with payment made on 2 July 2018 as a final dividend in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2017. The total return to shareholders is therefore 235 pence per share (2017: 135 pence per share) in respect of the financial year ended 31 December 2017.
https://www.investegate.co.uk/persimmon ... 00059833F/