Property developer The Berkeley Group said on Friday that it was on track to meet full-year earnings guidance after continuing to trade “robustly” since 1 November.
Forward sales, representing cash due under exchanged private sales, were expected to be above £1.70bn at year-end, flat year-on-year, whilst net cash was forecast to be around £900.0m, up from £846.0m, subject to the timing of certain land payments.
Berkeley said the value of underlying sales reservations remained slightly ahead of pre-pandemic levels, while cancellations were at normal rates and sales pricing was “sufficiently ahead” of its business plan to absorb construction cost increases.
“Berkeley continues to focus on the investment programme in place to bring its portfolio of long-term brownfield sites into production, underpinning future delivery and earnings, and sustaining some 28,000 UK jobs directly and indirectly throughout its supply chain,” said the FTSE 100-listed firm.
“The operating environment remains volatile with a number of challenges facing all businesses. For Berkeley, this is most immediately evident through continuing inflationary pressure and supply chain constraints, planning complexity and delays, the uncertainty associated with the combined efforts of the industry and Government to address concerns around the safety of people living in tall buildings and the developing implications of the tragic situation in Ukraine.”
