PRE-COVID WORK RATE FOR PERSIMMON

HOUSE-BUILDING giant Persimmon said its workload had bounced back to pre-Covid levels.

The lifting of coronavirus restrictions, coupled with pent-up demand and the Government’s stamp duty holiday, meant the firm’s construction sites are as busy as before the outbreak struck in March.

And to prove its recovery, Persimmon announced a partial reinstatement of its suspended dividend for shareholders.

It triggered an eight per cent jump in its share price yesterday.

The firm is banking on the bounce back lasting, after the lockdown saw the number of homes it built collapse 35 per cent to 4900 in the first six months of this year with profits plunging from £509million to £292million. Boss Dave Jenkinson said: “Build rates were back at pre-Covid levels by the end of the period.”

Average weekly private sales per site are up 49 per cent year on year since the start of July.

Estate agents and lenders have reported a surge in interest with households looking to move.

Russ Mould, investment director at City firm AJ Bell, said: “The recovery in the UK housing market since lockdown eased has been remarkable.”

But he warned “demand could be tested” by the ending of the Government’s furlough scheme in October and an expected rise in unemployment.”

ASDA saw online sales double during the lockdown amid what boss Roger Burnley called a “structural shift” in shopping habits. Overall, sales rose 3.8 per cent in the three months to June 30, said the supermarket giant. Among the surprise big sellers were bathroom scales, where sales leapt 70 per cent.

THE chairwoman of top business group the Institute of Directors has quit. Charlotte Valeur, who was appointed in 2018, said she felt unable to meet the time demands of the role during the pandemic. Her departure comes two-and-a-half years after the resignation of predecessor Lady Barbara Judge, who left amid allegations of bullying and making racist remarks.