Berkeley Group Holdings plc (LON:BKG) has announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 October 2025.
Rob Perrins, Executive Chair, said:
“Berkeley has delivered £254 million of pre-tax profit for the six-month period. Net cash is £342 million, after £132 million of share buy-backs, and net asset value per share is up 5% to £37.63. This highly creditable performance reflects exceptional operational execution in a very challenging macro-economic and regulatory environment, the quality of our market-leading homes and the strength of our unique long-term operating model. We remain on track to meet our pre-tax profit guidance of £450 million for this year and a similar level for FY27, along with our target for a strong net cash position.
Berkeley is a financially strong, asset-backed business and our 10-year Berkeley 2035 strategy provides the agility to navigate near-term headwinds while focusing on the drivers of long-term value from our well-located land holdings to deliver returns to shareholders over the cycle through share buy-backs and dividends.
This involves delivery of quality new homes in our core business, investment of over £1 billion into the Berkeley Living Build-to-Rent portfolio and disciplined cost and balance sheet control, alongside focussed planning activity to secure viable consents aligned with today’s operating environment and the Government’s drive to increase housing delivery and growth.
Government’s continued focus on supply is absolutely key to achieving London’s annual housing target of 88,000 new homes. There have been a number of significant policy initiatives in the period of which we are very supportive. These include the Homes for London package launched by MHCLG and the GLA to help restore development viability and increase affordable and private housing delivery in the capital, alongside the recently announced 2026-2036 Affordable Homes Programme. The impact of these measures, and the extent to which they result in Berkeley and other developers moving more homes into production, will depend on the speed, scale and duration of implementation.
At the same time, it should be recognised that since 2014 successive Governments have seen property ownership as a source of increased revenue and that, coupled with higher corporate and development taxes, this has constrained investment in the delivery of new homes.
We also continue to work constructively with Government to address other barriers to housing delivery. Most notable for London and all urban areas is the need for an effective process of building Gateway approval under the Building Safety Regulator. There is renewed impetus for the required cultural and process change from a revitalised leadership team at the BSR, keenly supported by Government, and we look forward to this translating into a consistent, timely and reliable process for building approvals.
Customer interest has been good in the period, evidenced by the level of enquiries and leads we are experiencing. However, the market has remained constrained by higher than anticipated interest rates and macro-economic uncertainty. The value of underlying sales reservations was stable for the first four months of the period but has been more subdued since, due to speculation and uncertainty leading up to last month’s Budget.
While near-term sentiment remains cautious, the long-term outlook is more positive; particularly in London, where undersupply is compounding and affordability is gradually improving with falling interest rates, improved mortgage availability, strong wage growth, and stable pricing. With the Budget uncertainty behind us, now is a good time for customers with the ability to buy, to do so, and take advantage of the prevailing market dynamic.
London remains one of the world’s most popular places to live, work, and invest. The city’s global status and appeal reflect its dynamism and culture, trusted legal framework, world-class infrastructure, deep talent pools, tolerant society and leading commercial, education, and knowledge clusters. It remains the biggest financial centre in Europe and second biggest in the world. As confidence returns, these fundamental strengths will reassert themselves and Berkeley is uniquely positioned to support the city’s future success.
Berkeley has great optionality in its 10-year strategy for the allocation of capital between its three value drivers: investing into the core business; investing into Berkeley Living, its BTR platform; or delivering returns to shareholders through share buy-backs or dividends. In today’s operating environment, we will carefully match delivery to the underlying market demand and the pace of the BSR’s gateway approval process, prioritising cash flow over the income statement, and deliver Berkeley Living’s initial BTR assets, stabilising income ready for the introduction of third-party capital. Based on our current financial position and operational focus, coupled with the dislocation in the share price, we will prioritise shareholder returns in this environment.
We have already made good progress on shareholder returns with £132 million of share buy-backs in the period. This completed the £260 million of returns to be made by the end of September 2025 under Berkeley 2035 and included £11 million of the next £640 million to be returned by 30 September 2030.
Berkeley’s performance is driven by its exceptional people and culture. On behalf of the Board, I want to express our sincere thanks to the entire Berkeley team for their commitment, creativity, and constant attention to detail.”
Summary of FINANCIAL POSITION, Earnings AND Shareholder ReturnS
| As at | As at | Change | ||||
| Financial Position | 31-Oct-25 | 30-Apr-25 | absolute | |||
| Net cash (1) | £342m | £337m | +£5m | |||
| Net asset value per share (1) | £37.63 | £35.95 | +£1.68 | |||
| Cash due on forward sales (1) | £1,137m | £1,403m | -£266m | |||
| Land holdings – future gross margin (1) | £6,512m | £6,722m | -£210m | |||
| Pipeline plots (approximately) | 14,000 | 12,000 | +2,000 | |||
| HY to | HY to | Change | ||||
| Earnings | 31-Oct-25 | 31-Oct-24 | % | |||
| Operating margin | 20.8% | 20.2% | N/A | |||
| Profit before tax | £254.0m | £275.1m | -7.7% | |||
| Basic earnings per share | 183.7p | 186.8p | -1.7% | |||
| Pre-tax return on equity (1) | 14.2% | 15.6% | N/A | |||
| Return on capital employed (1) | 15.5% | 17.5% | N/A | |||
| HY to | HY to | |||||
| Shareholder Returns | 31-Oct-25 | 31-Oct-24 | ||||
| Share buy-backs undertaken | £132.0m | £23.3m | ||||
| Dividends paid | – | £218.7m | ||||
| Shareholder returns | £132.0m | £242.0m | ||||
| Share buy-backs – volume | 3.5m | 0.5m | ||||
| Average price paid for share buy-backs | £37.19 | £46.33 | ||||
| Dividends per share | – | £2.07 | ||||
| (1) See Note 8 of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Information for a reconciliation of alternative performance measures | ||||||
· The value of private sales reservations was broadly in-line with H1 2025 for the first four months of the period but has been more subdued since due to speculation leading up to the Budget. Overall, sales ended around 4% behind the equivalent six-month period.
· Cash due on forward sales has reduced to £1,137 million (30 April 2025: £1,403 million), with legal completions ahead of reservation rates (56% of full year pre-tax profit guidance delivered in the first half of the year) and pricing slightly ahead of business plan levels at the start of the financial year.
· Operating efficiency maintained with operating costs 6% lower than the first six months of last year.
· Net cash is £342 million, after shareholder returns of £132 million, land creditor payments of £80 million and £30 million of BTR construction cost. £1.2 billion of borrowing capacity provides total liquidity of £1.5 billion.
· Net asset value per share has increased by 4.7% to £37.63 and reflects historic cost.
· Unrivalled land holdings with £6.5 billion of future gross margin.
CAPITAL ALLOCATION AND BERKELEY 2035
· Good progress made with 10-year strategy, Berkeley 2035, which provides resilience and flexibility for Berkeley to allocate capital between land investment, growing its BTR platform and shareholder returns, as appropriate.
· £132 million of shareholder returns completed by September 2025; £11m of which contributes to the next shareholder return target of £640 million by September 2030.
· Two new conditional sites acquired in the period and three new planning consents obtained at Borough Triangle (890 homes), Hemel Hempstead (485 Homes) and Brighton (480 homes).
· Berkeley Living, our BTR platform, launches in early 2026 with Foundry Yard at Alexandra Gate welcoming its first residents in Spring 2026. Two more sites have been transferred to the platform taking the total homes to 1,122.
DELIVERING FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS
· 2,022 homes delivered, plus 82 in joint ventures (2024: 2,103, plus 177) – 89% of which are on brownfield land.
· Over £220 million of subsidies provided to deliver affordable housing and committed to wider community and infrastructure benefits in the six-month period.
· Industry-leading Net Promoter Score +76.9 and customer satisfaction ratings maintained. Ranked first for both Customer Care and Build Quality by HomeViews, part of Rightmove.
· Updated science-based targets validated by the SBTi and more than 60 embodied carbon studies completed.
· Winner of the Biodiversity Protection Award at the National Sustainability Awards as a recognised pioneer in the industry for biodiversity net gain, with 58 developments committed to date.
· Gold membership of The 5% Club, with 8% of direct employees in ‘earn and learn’ positions as graduates, apprentices or sponsored students on our award-winning programmes within the period.
· ‘AAA’ MSCI ESG rating and rated an Industry Top-Rated company and Low Carbon Leader by Sustainalytics
