Berkeley says housing market has stabilised

25th Jun 2010 07:02

Housebuilder Berkeley said the housing market in London and the South East has stabilised as it reported better than expected full-year figures.Pre-tax profit dropped 8.4% to £110.3m in the year ended 30 April, on sales of £615.3m compared with £702.2m last year. The market expected Berkeley to announce pre-tax profits in the region of £104.4m on sales of £587m. At 30 April, the group (including joint ventures) controlled some 28,099 plots with an estimated gross margin of £2,038m. The group plans to grow both earnings per share and the land bank by 10% over the next 12 months. "Berkeley is committed to ensuring the group remains at the vanguard of the industry and is the homebuilder of choice for all of its stakeholders. Berkeley is well placed to achieve this," it said.The group added that it is in a good position to react quickly to the opportunities in the market as visibility improves once the impact of the change in government is assessed by companies and individuals. "Essentially, Berkeley has three investment choices. These are: acquiring new land; investing in work in progress; and returning cash to shareholders through dividends or share buy-backs," said managing director Rob Perrins."In this financially constrained environment, we are confident that we will find the right balance to maximise shareholder returns over the long-term."