Housebuilder Berkeley Group has reported a 35% fall in pretax profit during the year ending April.
Profit before tax declined to £503m, while revenue was down by 35.1% to £1.9bn.
The housebuilder sold 2,723 homes, compared with 3,698 in the previous year, at an average selling price of £677,000.
Gross profit margin per home rose to 33.2%, up from 31.3%. Berkeley said this reflected the “mix of properties” sold during the year.
Net asset value per share grew by 7.2% to £24.72, compared with April in the previous year, owing to share buybacks undertaken during the period.
Including joint ventures, Berkeley’s land holdings comprised 58,413 plots at 30 April, up from 54,955 at the same point in the previous year. These have an estimated future gross profit of £6.4bn.
As announced in March, Berkeley said it would delay a proposed £455m increase in shareholder returns for up to two years, given the volatility presented by Covid-19.
It will pay back £140m through share buybacks and dividend payments in September.
Berkeley added that it had not needed to use the government’s furlough scheme or its Covid Corporate Financing Facility during the pandemic.
Chairman Tony Pidgley said: “The onset of the Covid-19 lockdown in the last five weeks of the period had a significant impact on our operating environment, but Berkeley ended the year in a strong financial and operational position as our resilient business model and agile working culture defined our response.”
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