The company reported its profit before tax had fallen from £730.7m in 2022 to £351.8m in 2023 in its full-year results, while its underlying operating profit had declined to £354.5m in 2023, from just over £1bn the year before — during the same timeframe total group revenue had fallen from £3.82bn to £2.77bn.

The Persimmon full-year results also reported a fall in new home completions from 14,868 in 2022 to 9,922 the following year.

•   The Finance Professional Show 2023: The Video
•   Persimmon expects to cut 700 jobs amid hiring freeze
•   Probe launched into housebuilders due to suspicion of trading information

Persimmon also released its five-year summary, whereby its underlying figures reported profits from operations had fallen to £345.5m in 2023, from just over £1bn in 2022, while profit before tax had dropped to £359.4m in 2023 from just over £1.01bn the preceding year  — unit sales had also fallen to 9,922 in 2023 from 14,861 the year before.

According to the five-year summary, the company had seen its profits before tax rise in 2021 to 2022 after a drop between 2019 and 2020 — despite this 2023 saw the lowest decline from its five-year peak of just under £1.05bn in 2019.

Dean Finch, group CEO at Persimmon, commented: “Although the near-term outlook remains uncertain, the significant pent-up demand for homes remains unchanged. 
“Customers want quality homes in the places where they want to live and work, and affordability is crucial.”