Persimmon pre-tax profits top £1bn
Housebuilder Persimmon, which saw pre-tax profits top £1 billion for the first time last year, has appointed a new boss.
The company, which has its Persimmon Homes West Midlands office at Broadlands, Wolverhampton, has confirmed that interim chief executive Dave Jenkinson will stay on in the role permanently.
He has been with the firm for 22 years and took on the position four months ago after previous chief Jeff Fairburn left amid controversy surrounding his £75 million pay package.
The announcement came as Persimmon, which also includes Charles Church and Westbury Partnerships. reported annual revenue growth of four per cent for last year, reaching £3.74 billion.
Pre-tax profits grew by 13 per cent to £1.09 billion.
Legal completions in 2019 are expected to be flat on the previous year at around £2.02 billion.
Completion volumes increased by 406 new homes to 16,449 with an average selling price of £215,563, up one per cent.
In the Midlands Persimmon, which has sites in the Black Country, Shropshire and Staffordshire, delivered 1,830 new homes in the year.
Mr Jenkinson said the results reflected the success of Persimmon's strategy of targeting mostly first-time buyers, but said there was more to do and pledged to improve the business under his leadership.
My focus is to build on this strong platform, maintaining our operational momentum, but also implementing a number of necessary new initiatives in customer care
"My focus is to build on this strong platform, maintaining our operational momentum, but also implementing a number of necessary new initiatives in customer care," he said.
"A wide range of projects to improve customer satisfaction commenced in late 2018 and the initial results have been encouraging, giving us confidence in our ability to make progress in this important area."
It comes as the company's right to sell Help to Buy homes comes under scrutiny amid Government concerns over its behaviour.
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