Housebuilder juggles with Covid delays

Housebuilder Persimmon has seen a rise in staff absences and home-buyers delaying house moves due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

The group said the Omicron outbreak had led to further disruption among its workforce, supply chains and customer support services in the final weeks of 2021.

It said: “The corresponding updated government guidance has led to a pick-up in sicknessrelated absenteeism, with some customers also choosing to delay moving into their new home as they isolated in line with best advice.”

Despite this, Persimmon stressed it had “managed the ongoing challenges of the pandemic well”.

Its full-year update showed group revenues reached £3.61 billion in 2021, up 8% on 2020 and close to recovering to prepandemic levels, at just 1% below the £3.65 billion posted in 2019. Average private selling prices lifted around 3% to £259,200 over the year, with total overall prices up 2.8% on the 14,551 homes sold.

Its forward orders slipped to £1.62 billion from £1.69 billion in 2020, though they were up around a fifth when compared with prepandemic levels in 2019.

Shares fell 2% after the update.

Persimmon chief executive Dean Finch said: “Whilst the industry

continues to face the ongoing operational and economic challenges as a consequence of the pandemic, particularly as the Omicron outbreak unfolded in the last six weeks of the year, the group continues to manage these ongoing challenges comprehensively.”

The update follows the

UK Government’s announcement on Monday that all leaseholders in high-rise blocks should not have to pay for remediation works on dangerous cladding

Persimmon said: “We share the secretary of state’s aspiration that leaseholders should not have to pay to remove cladding.

“We made a commitment a year ago that leaseholders in buildings constructed by Persimmon, including all those above 11 metres, should not have to cover the cost of cladding removal.”

The group reiterated that it constructed only a “very small proportion” of buildings affected by cladding issues.

ON THE UP: Builder Persimmon reported a revenues rise in spite of the pandemic.