Berkeley says firm on course to hit £525m profit target

Berkeley says it is on track to hit its target of increasing pre-tax profit to £525m this year.

In a short trading update covering the four months to the end of August, the housebuilder said business has been “stable” in the first weeks of its new financial year.

It is aiming to increase pre-tax profit for the year to 30 April 2025 by 5%, as part of a plan to post combined pre-tax profit of nearly £1bn over this year and next.

It said: “Trading has been stable for Berkeley over the first four months of the year and we are on target to achieve our pre-tax earnings guidance for the full year ending 30 April 2025 of £525m, 90% of which is already secured through exchanged sales contracts.”

The group expects net cash to be around £450m at 31 October this year, its half-year end, down on £532m for the same period last year due in part to shareholder returns totalling £229m in the first half of the year.

In July, Berkeley announced it was returning to the land market after a two-year absence.

Its chief executive Rob Perrins said the move was a response to the government’s decision to revise the National Planning Policy Framework. Earlier this summer, the firm also announced plans to launch its own build-to-rent (BTR) platform to build and manage 4,000 homes over the next decade.

The firm is due to announce its results for the six months to the end of October on 6 December.