The company鈥檚 plan, announced in February 2012, centres on returning 拢1.9bn (拢6.20 per share) of surplus capital to shareholders by 2021. First pay-out of 75p per share will be made on 30 June 2013, returning 拢227m in total. The biennial dividend will rise to 95p per share in 2015 and 110p in 2017.
Persimmon made an underlying profit before tax of 拢225.1m in 2012, up 52% from 拢148.1m in 2011.
Full year revenue was up 12% to 拢1.72bn (2011: 拢1.54bn).
Return on capital employed increased by 47% to 12.2% (2011: 8.3%) and forward sales passed 拢1bn (2012: 拢927m), an increase of 9%.
Chairman Nicholas Wrigley said: "These strong results mark the completion of the first year of our new strategy and I'm pleased that at this early stage we are ahead of plan.
鈥淧ersimmon has made excellent progress throughout the year increasing underlying pre-tax profitability by 52%, growing operating margins strongly to 13% and generating 拢179 million of free cash flow before dividends.聽 We continue to see good value in the land market and acquired c.14,800 plots during the year, 38% of which were converted from our own strategic land bank.
"We have made a strong start to the new year, with forward sales reaching the 拢1bn milestone, an increase of 9% on last year.聽 Mortgage availability remains the key constraint to the housing market.聽 However, there are some signs that lenders are embracing the government's Funding for Lending scheme and we have seen some recent reductions in mortgage rates.聽 We anticipate increasing our active outlet number to around 390 sites by the end of June, helping to increase the volume of new homes that the country needs."
As previously reported, group chief executive Mike Farley will retire at the AGM in April and be succeeded by group managing director Jeff Fairburn.
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