Berkeley Group’s pre-tax profit slides 17% in the fiscal first half

Berkeley Group Holdings plc (LON: BKG) said on Friday that its pre-tax profit came in 17% lower than last year in the fiscal first half. The company, however, reaffirmed its guidance for the full year. The property developer had seen a 35% decline in annual pre-tax profit last year due to COVID-19 disruptions.

Berkeley Group opened about 3% down on Friday but recovered the majority of the intraday loss in the next hour. It is now exchanging hands at £48 per share versus a year to date low of £31.31 per share in March. Berkeley Group’s stock (read here: how to buy stocks for beginners) had started the year at a per-share price of £49.48.

Berkeley forecasts £500 million of annual pre-tax profit

Berkeley Group said that its pre-tax profit in the six months that concluded on 31^st October printed at £230.8 million. In comparison, it had reported a higher £276.7 million of pre-tax profit in the same period last year. In separate news from the United Kingdom, Pets at Home became the latest UK retailer on Friday to return COVID-19 tax relief.

For the full financial year, the British property developer forecasts £500 million of pre-tax profit – that remained unchanged from its guidance earlier this year. Berkeley Group had £954 million of cash as of the end of the fiscal first half.

In terms of revenue, the Cobham-based company registered £895.9 million in H1 that represents a 3.8% year over year decline. Berkeley also said on Friday that its per-share net asset value saw a 0.4% growth in the fiscal first half to £24.82.

Berkeley Group valued forward sales at £1.94 billion

According to Berkeley Group, it delivered 1,104 homes in H1. The average price stood at £799 thousand during this period versus the year-ago figure of £644 thousand. The property developer had delivered 1,389 homes in the first six months of the previous fiscal year.

Forward sales, the FTSE 100 listed company added, are currently valued at £1.94 billion. Berkeley said it was committed to £280 million of annual payments to shareholders up to 30^th September 2025. The next payment worth £140 million, it said, was expected by 31^st March 2021.

Berkeley Group performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 40%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £5.90 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 15.04.