6 August 2026
If you are covering Persimmon's latest financial results or the announcement of an equity raise by Tritax Big Box, please find below a comment from Oli Creasey, head of property research at Quilter Cheviot:
"Persimmon's first half results are unusual for a UK housebuilder as the company is in relatively good shape. The company's completion figures have increased 13% and the average sale price is also up 1%, producing revenue growth that many peers would be proud of given the challenges in the housing market. Operating profit has also increased by 10%, and while it comes with a slight reduction to the profit margin to 12.8%, that remains sector-leading profitability, with many peers now reporting single-digit margins.
"Comments around recent trading highlight the difficult market environment that the housebuilders are operating in, with the sales rate for individual purchases falling 3% in the weeks post-June. However, once bulk purchases are included the sales rate is up to 0.72x, up 6% compared to the same period last year, demonstrating that Persimmon has the ability to find growth in more than one sector, with housing association completions up 50% in the first half of the year.
"Today's results have given management the confidence to make a soft increase in full year guidance, indicating that completions will be around 12.500, previously the upper end of the provided range. Management continues to expect underlying profit to be in-line with market expectations, although we do note that this forecast has fallen 3% since the full year results in March.
"Housebuilders are operating in one of the most challenging markets in recent history, and Persimmon is navigating it well. While performance is below long-term averages, particularly the pre-covid period when Help to Buy was boosting sector-wide returns, the company remains well ahead of peers.
"In other, unexpected property news, Tritax Big Box is raising new equity with an accelerated bookbuild which includes a retail offering. The company has secured the rights to 235MW of power capacity to develop into new data centres in Greater London, and the money raised would be used to fund these developments. At a double-digit yield on cost, and development profit of over 50%, the opportunity is an attractive one, and the company expects the transaction to be accretive to both earnings per share and net asset value, despite shares already trading at a small (around 7.5% currently) discount to NAV. Given the timescale of the developments, it will take time for that accretion to manifest, but management has the confidence to increase medium term guidance for earnings growth, now expecting an increase of 65% by 2031 from a 2024 baseline."
