London housebuilder Berkeley says profits on track to match last year

Berkeley has cheered the “enduring attraction” of London, as it emerged the housebuilder is on track to match last year’s profit but sales reservations will be lower.

The FTSE 100 builder said since the half year the group has “continued to trade robustly”.

It reconfirmed its own guidance from December that for the full year to April it is in line to record profits similar to the £504 million achieved in the previous 12 months. However, analysts were hoping for the company to outperform this.

Berkeley, led by Rob Perrins, said it has held back the launch of some new developments until the economy opens ups post-lockdown. It anticipates the value of reservations for the current financial year to be around 20% lower than last year.

A note from house broker UBS said: “This reflects a larger exposure to international buyers, which have been more difficult to market to owing to travel restrictions.”