PARSONS CORP — Call Transcript 2025

Good morning all. Thanks for joining us today. I'm joined by Andrew and other members of the team are around as well if you want to catch them later. The theme of these half-year results is that we've continued to grow the business and at the same time enhanced our capabilities for the future. As I pointed out in our statement, our focus on self-help has continued to deliver. We've grown in several key areas: completions, ASPs, sales rates ex bulk, outlets, consents, and profits, all whilst reducing our exposure to cladding. This differentiated performance is a product of our strategy and execution, and that's been brought about by the skill and expertise of my colleagues at Persimmon, whom I want to thank for this great performance. Persimmon's strategy involves choosing where to build, what to build, and how to build, and that approach enables us to provide exceptional homes at attractive prices to our target customer base. We continue to double down on our clear strategy through our investment in land, in our brands, in our build quality and customer service, and our factories. We're doing this whilst continuing to maintain a secure and strong balance sheet. Our strategy and our execution are enabling us to deliver profitable growth in contrast to a challenging market, and I believe it will enable us to continue to grow in the coming years. Our strategy is consistent and is clearly delivering, as the next slide, which I presented to you in March, shows. These five enablers: land, brands, quality and service, innovation and vertical integration, and balance sheet support and enable the delivery of our strategy. Our high-quality land bank and industry-leading planning success combined are driving outlet growth. Our three strong and distinct brands are well positioned as attractive and very good value products in their respective markets. This brand diversification is undoubtedly driving sales and growth. Our significant and sustained progress on build quality and customer service is enabling us to better compete for customers, and that improves sales rates in a challenging market. Our investment in innovation and vertical integration is enhancing our build efficiency and our delivery now, with much more opportunities to come. Finally, our balance sheet remains a key strength. Our strategy and these enablers, coupled with our experienced teams, are both helping us to outperform now, as well as give us the confidence we will continue to do so in the future as we build our differentiated platform. Now I'll turn to what we've achieved in the first half. As you can see, we had a good first half. Our underlying PBT is up 11%. I think that's a great performance and reflects our strong pricing and rigorous cost controls. Outlets are up 4% against industry trends. Our weekly sales are up year-on-year, and together with more outlets, that's driving more completions. We continue to invest in our excellent and growing land bank, and we've maintained our HBF five-star and are now rated excellent on Trustpilot for both Persimmon and Charles Church. Our underlying EPS is also up 3%. As Andrew will explain later, the reason EPSs are not up more is because 2024 benefited from a prior year tax credit. What I'm really pleased about is that our current total forward order book is up 9%, with private up 11%, giving us excellent visibility. It's been a strong performance despite the continued challenges in the market. Andrew will now take you through the results in more detail, and then I'll say more on how our strategy has delivered and gives us confidence for the future. Thank you, Dean. Good morning, everyone. I'm really pleased that we have delivered further growth in volumes and in profits in the first half of 2025, which is an excellent performance in the context of a very challenging market backdrop. New home completions were up 4%. Our blended ASP increased 8% to £284,000, and I'll come to the detail of this in a moment. The combination of volume and pricing drove housing revenue up 12% to over £1.3 billion and gross profit up 11% to £262 million. Gross margin was maintained at 20.1%, which is a good performance given the change in cost base over the last few years. Underlying operating profit increased 13% to £172 million, and I'm pleased to report a 10 bps increase in our margin to 13.1%. Underlying PBT is up 11%, and this is after a £4 million increase in interest costs because of our lower cash balances, as expected. Although not on the slide, statutory PBT is flat after allowing for a £16 million exceptional charge in relation to the CMA commitments that you're aware of. Our tax rate is close to the statutory, 29%, and if you remember, the first half in 2024 had a lower tax rate because of some one-off items, and that boosted last year's underlying EPS. Putting all this together, underlying EPS this year has increased 3% to £36.80. We generated cash of £183 million before movements in working capital, and our return on capital employed has increased to 11.2%, reflecting the improved profitability and our continued balance sheet discipline. I think this is a particularly good metric in the period. I'll now come back to sales mix and ASP in a bit more detail. Of the total new homes delivered, 3,987 were private. That's 7% higher than last year. This increase reflects our strong sales rate and an increased number of outlets, which has meant that our total sales per week, including bulk sales, has increased to 191 a week. Private completions include 590 bulk sales, which is 13% or 66 houses higher than last year as we continue to engage strategically with this sector. 34% of private sales were to first-time buyers, and this has always been, and it remains a very important market for us. Charles Church increased in line with our planned growth to 11% of private sales or 10% of total completions. Partnerships output fell to 13% of total completions, and this continues to reflect the acceleration of delivery in 2023. Importantly, all of our affordable delivery is signed up for this year. The blended ASP on completions in the period was up 8%, and private ASP increased strongly, even allowing for the increase in bulk sales. There are a couple of things to just draw out. Firstly, pricing has been robust, particularly in the north of England and in Scotland, and we've pushed it on where we can do. Secondly, the pricing on our bulk units has also been strong, reflecting our more strategic approach. Overall, our product remains affordable, with our Persimmon Homes average selling price well below the new build national average and with over half of completions below £300,000. Across the period, average incentives on completions were around 4.5%, which is similar to 2024, but of course of higher pricing. Putting this all together, the combination of increased volume and increased ASP drove revenue up 12%. This slide provides the normal bridge showing underlying operating profit movement, and you can see the positive effect of increased volumes, increased average selling prices, and the mix of more private units. The movement in the cost line is small, and we remain focused on commercial disciplines and managing our costs closely. The operating expenses have increased by £7 million, which is a 9% increase, less than the 12% housing revenue increase, despite our ongoing investment in capabilities for the future. This bridges on an underlying basis. The only exceptional item in the period is £16.2 million in relation to our proposed contribution and the cost to date of the CMA investigation, and this is shown within administration expenses in the income statement. I'll now turn to the balance sheet. Our strong balance sheet is a platform that allows us to invest in the future growth of the business. Land and WIP has increased £292 million since the turn of the year. We've invested in more land than we've utilized, and we've also increased our work in progress. There are three things to mention on WIP. Firstly, there's seasonality. We have more WIP at June than at December because we'll deliver more units in H2. Secondly, as we're opening new sites, there is increased WIP in relation to infrastructure spend. Of the increase in WIP, about half is related to external infrastructure, including on new sites. Thirdly, we held £164 million of PX stock at the end of June, and this is an important sales tool for us. We're focused on recycling these units back into cash quickly. Land creditors are a little bit lower than the start of the year, but the key thing is that we're still able to agree appropriate payment terms in the market. We reported net cash at June of £123 million, and taken together with land creditors, that means our gearing is about 8%. Our building safety provision stands at £208 million, which is down in the period. I'll come back to this in a moment. Net assets are up 2.4% since last June. Net assets per share are 22 bps higher than this time last year, and return on average capital employed is 120 bps higher than this time last year. These are all showing good progress. This is the normal cash bridge with the reduction in cash reflecting our investment in land and WIP as we grow the business. This is an important point. To grow the business, we need to invest cash. We've chosen to make this investment, and we can make that choice partly because our fire safety obligations are relatively smaller than for others. On the graphic, you can see cash inflow from operations was £183 million. That's 11% more than in H1 2024. WIP and other working capital movements of £163 million include the investment in new outlets and in H2 delivery that I referred to earlier. We spent £46 million on interest and tax and £25 million on capital expenditure, including on our new Space4 line. Before building safety remediation and investment into land, we had net cash of £204 million. We had net investment of £50 million into new land, and that's the net of land spend and land utilization in the period. We spent £31 million on our safety remediation program. I expect net cash at the year end to be between zero and £200 million, which is in line with previous guidance, depending of course on the speed of investment into new land. Before I get to land, I'll just cover two other capital allocation matters: the building safety remediation and our FibreNest disposal. Building safety provisions and the progress of remediation work is a very important topic, and we are making good progress as we expected to do, and that is the right thing to do for everyone involved. We're on site or completed at 77% of known developments or 80% of buildings, and there's no change to the total number of developments in the period. We've assessed all known developments, and we expect to be on site at all of these developments by the end of the year. That is well ahead of the overall industry position. You can see that there's 19 sites still to start, and of course there is some cost risk on these sites until they're completed, both cost inflation and scope changes. That's another reason that we've been pushing on to complete our work. So far this year, we've spent £31 million, and that brings our total spend to date to around £150 million, and we'll spend close to £100 million across the whole of 2025. The provision at 30 June was £208 million, with the reduction being the £31 million spent offset by some imputed interest. The bulk of the remaining spend will be made over the next 18-24 months, with a tail of spend beyond then. Importantly, completing this work quickly will create capital allocation opportunities for us. In May, we announced an agreement to dispose of FibreNest, which was a non-core operation for us, and I'm pleased to say that this sale completed last week, so congratulations to everybody involved. This will provide our customers with a larger choice of internet service providers, and it will free up significant cash for redeployment into our business, both the consideration received and the annual saving on capital expenditure. We'll reinvest this money into the growth of the business, including new land opportunities, and in doing so, we'll create better returns than would have been generated through the FibreNest business. I'll move on to land. Our disciplined investment into land has allowed us to grow our outlet base again this year and to grow our business. Dean will cover this in more detail in a moment, so I'll just draw out some key metrics. Total plots owned and under control, 82,500, is up 420 since the start of the year, and owned plots with planning are 7% higher than this time last year. The land bank continues to be well proportioned across the country, as you can see, and this provides confidence that we'll achieve our ambition of growing to at least 300 outlets. The cost to assumed revenue in the land bank is about 12%, a very good indicator of future margin potential. These land holdings are high quality. Building on the point from the previous slide, you can see that land cost to assumed revenue has remained very stable over the last few years, and that's really pleasing. The average embedded site margin within our owned land holdings is still around 29%, and within this, nearly 80% of plots will deliver a site margin in excess of 25%. This is site margin, so there are some other costs within statutory gross margins, such as maintenance spend and some of the fixed selling and construction cost space, but the important thing is this is shown on a consistent basis to previous years, and taken together provides the confidence that we've got the land in place for our growth ambitions. The structure of our capital allocation policy is unchanged, and it's proving successful. We're maintaining a strong balance sheet whilst prioritizing dealing with our building safety remediation through this year and next. We're continuing to invest in the business to deliver our growth objectives, and this has allowed us to return to growth ahead of the sector. We're paying a sustainable dividend well covered by profits, and today we've declared an interim dividend at £0.20 in line with last year. We'll look to review this policy again as we deliver our growth plans and as we progress through our fire remediation works. To summarize, these are very good first half-year results that are showing good growth. Assuming that conditions remain stable, we're on track to deliver growth in 2025 to a volume of 11,000-11,500 as previously guided. I said in March that our medium-term margin growth wouldn't be straight line, it would be back-ended, and that's still the case. This year I expect some margin growth on the 14.1% that we achieved last year, which is probably near the lower end of the range shown depending on market conditions in the next few months, but I'm comfortable with where 2025 consensus, operating profit, and PBT are currently. 2025 will be our second year of growth since the downturn, and although not expecting any significant improvement in market conditions, we're looking to grow again into 2026, and this shows the strength of our operating model and our ability to address the challenges in the market. Looking to 2026, the pace of margin growth will be impacted by various factors, including embedded inflation and customer affordability, and none of these points will be new to you. Embedded inflation is still an important feature. As you would expect, over half of our delivery in 2026 will be on site acquired before inflation normalized, and of course, average build costs were up 30% in that period. We now have relatively normal inflation, but on a higher total cost base, and that will restrict margin progression before the effect of embedded inflation begins to diminish. On sales, there's likely to be some uncertainty ahead of the budgets, which could affect consumer confidence during our autumn selling season and could also affect build-to-rent sales for next year. Real income increases are uncertain with persistent affordability challenges, and this makes driving further ASP growth more difficult. The costs of doing business are increasing across the industry. For example, regulatory costs, dealing with nutrient neutrality, the cost of discharging planning conditions in order to open new outlets, and so on. These are all points I know you're well aware of, but taken together, it means I expect the margin progression in 2026 will be perhaps 50 bps lower than the current consensus, although that's probably about £15 million before interest costs. As an early indication, building on our growth in 2024 and growth in 2025, I expect further volume growth to around 12,000 units in 2026 and further margin progression at a similar rate to this year, which will bring us within the lower end of the range of current estimates for 2026. You can work out that will mean further mid-single-digit percentage profit growth again next year, and that will make 2026 our third successive year of profitable growth. With that, I'll hand back to Dean. Thank you, Andrew. I said in March that I was pleased we achieved a rapid return to growth in 2024, and I'm very pleased that we're sustaining that in 2025. Our strategy to focus on self-help is securing results. On all of our five enablers, we've made real progress, and they continue to support Persimmon's growth. I'll now describe this in more detail. Our investment in land, coupled with industry-leading planning success, is driving outlet growth. We've also strengthened our strategic land bank. With private sales in all three brands growing, our diversification is selling more homes. Our sustained reputational improvement is seen on our HBF and Trustpilot scores, and that reputational rise is improving inquiries, sales, and partner relationships. Our state-of-the-art Space4 line and brick and tile factories are delivering more products. Automation and digitalization are securing further operational and cost efficiencies. Unsurprisingly, we're resolute in maintaining a strong balance sheet. As Andrew said, we expect our progress on building safety to provide capital allocation opportunities from 2027. As I said earlier, we're delivering growth despite a challenging market. I'll now say more on how and why. We've continued to invest in our land bank. We added more plots and completions. Our owned plots with detailed planning increased by 7%, and we're outperforming the industry on planning because we do it differently. We treat an application like a political campaign. We engage early and understand local priorities. Ultimately, we aim to provide the local politicians a reason to say yes to our plans. Too often, planning applications rely on telling politicians why they can't say no. As the graph shows, we're outperforming our peers. The industry-wide data looks similar. A 22% increase in full or reserve matter applications over the last 12 months compares to a 3% decline in the industry. Our investment in land, combined with our planning success, means we have more outlets and have good momentum. I think that's reflected by our 4% growth in outlets compared to a 3% decline in the industry. We're confident there's more to come. The government's planning reforms are presenting opportunities for acceleration of applications. We've now identified 50 potential sites in our land bank, up from 38 in March. Thirty one of these are already proceeding with an application. We have a good pipeline of outlet openings this year and remain on track to deliver 300 outlets within 18 months. That's a good platform for future growth. If I turn now to our strategic land bank, you'll see how we're strengthening it further. Persimmon's high-quality strategic land bank is a real source of strength. That's reflected by the fact that 41% of completions in the first half came from strategic land. Building on that, we've been investing in our teams to grow our strategic land bank yet further. Adding over 6,000 plots in the first half means our strategic land bank is now 8% larger this year. Plus, it's really well spread geographically, as the pie chart shows. That larger land bank supports our three-brand strategy as examples, such as Cheltenham Show. It's a great piece of land that I've referred to before. We bought it after many, many years of delay ahead of last November's budget. Since I mentioned this last time, we've secured outline planning on over 1,000 plots. That's a great site for many years to come. With margins typically 300-500 basis points higher than open market land, our strategic land bank is really adding excellent opportunities to our growth platform. It's not just about great land bank. Our improved reputation means we're better able to capitalize on it. We've sustained our progress on build quality and customer service. We retained our HBF five-star for the fourth consecutive year. As the graph shows, our consistent progress on Persimmon and Charles Church Trustpilot scores means both are rated excellent. Our NHBC CQR score has improved further this year, and this is being noticed. Customer trust in our brand is up 17% since December 2022. More BTR partners are working with us. We've grown our affordable forward order book despite the well-publicized challenges in the sector. The combination of more outlets, an active and expanding pipeline of opportunities, and an enhanced reputation is driving growth. It provides a platform for continued growth into the future, supported by our onsite mantra of "Build right, first time, every time." Our continued investment in sales and marketing has helped us convert the opportunities in our markets. More potential customers now consider buying from us, up 26% since December 2022. We've been innovative to make it easier for our customers to buy our homes. For example, our exclusive partnership with Generation Home is the first shared equity product since Help to Buy. As well as securing additional sales, it's also bringing customers to our sites. So far this year, our website visitors are up 20% and website inquiries are up 12%. As you can see from the graph, recent weeks have seen a further uptick. I'd emphasize that the strong growth has also been across the country. As the graphs show, we've shown consistent growth in recent years. We're investing in our teams. Our mystery shopping scores have shown a notable 7% improvement, helping drive performance and sales conversions. As a result, we've grown our market share in the first half of the year. A new customer website and a marketing platform to accelerate this progress are in development. Our improved reputation and investment in enhanced sales and marketing with new programs means there is undoubtedly more opportunity to come. If I turn to our brands, I'm really pleased with our brand diversity, and we've grown private completions in all three of them. The next slide shows the breadth of progress we've made and the size of the opportunity we have. All three brands are well placed as good value products in their respective markets. Persimmon's traditional strength, of course, has been price, but we're now also great value. Our quality and service improvements mean we build homes our customers can trust at a price they can afford. Indeed, as I tour our sites, I'm struck by how good they now look in comparison to their major competitor, the local second-hand market. With our growing outlets and stronger sales and marketing, core Persimmon has a real opportunity for further growth in the years to come. Turning now to Charles Church, I'm excited by the difference we're already seeing. We've relaunched the brand earlier this year, and we're investing in our teams to drive its growth. Of the 53 Charles Church sites we now operate from, 35 are dual branded. This demonstrates the opportunity to drive returns through a diverse market offering. We think there's a real opportunity now to grow Charles Church across the country, and we've identified many local markets where this affordable premium product is highly attractive. Our ambition remains to double Charles Church's output. A 20% increase in completions and a 30% increase in revenue in the first half, I think, is a good start. Turning now to Westbury, we've also improved our reputation with our BTR and affordable partners. Build-to-rent is a growing feature of the market. Recent Savills data shows investment grew in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024. We delivered 13% more completions in the first half compared to last year. We're securing targeted deals, employing clear discipline to improve returns. We're working with more partners and are targeting further growth. Turning to our affordable housing, we've already managed to fully secure our order book for the year. While challenges persist for RP financing, we'll build on our improved reputation to strengthen our relationship in the years to come. These three stronger brands with better reputations should provide more resilience and underpin growth into the future. I believe this growth will only be supported and secured with more offsite manufacture, innovation, and vertical integration. It's to our factories where we've significantly invested that I'll now turn. Our factories are already supporting our growth by contributing more of their high-quality, cost-efficient products to our business. I think they're essential to our future growth. That's why we're investing so they'll contribute even more. A state-of-the-art automated line is now operational at our timber frame factory. You can see the photos on the slide. We've also expanded our product range to include roof trusses. This investment is providing a broader range of industry-leading quality products, consistently and cost-efficiently. All regions have plans to use the product, with seven new regions starting this year. Our second factory in Loughborough will help meet this growing demand and expand the products we can offer even further. We're starting an onsite trial of the Mauer brick facade, combined with our timber frame this month. I've spoken before about the significant benefits here, and we've identified additional sites to roll this out further. Our brick and tile use continues to grow. The brick factory is now operating 24/7, and we're also investing in an additional line next year to meet demand. In a similar vein, the tile factory is planning a third shift next year to meet its own growing demand. As well as getting more from our factories, our use of onsite digitalization is really driving cost efficiency. Granular management of materials is reducing lost stalling and damage costs, as well as daywork costs, with the results dropping straight to the bottom line. My vision is that within a few years, for a large proportion of our houses, we'll be able to provide all the main components of the superstructure from our own factories: timber frame, roof truss, joist, brick or brick facade, and tile, all Persimmon manufactured. The output opportunities, as well as the cost efficiency benefits, are really exciting. If I turn to what's been a good start to the second half, I'm really pleased with our sales this year. Our current forward order book is at 9% on last year. Within this, our private forward order book is up 11% and affordable up 4%. In the last five weeks, our sales have been encouraging, with total sales up 3% and ex bulk sales up 17% year-on-year. Pricing is robust. Private ASPs in the forward order book are up 1% compared to a year ago. In the last five weeks, ASP on private reservations are up 5%. We continue to remain disciplined with incentives currently around 4.5%. It's a good performance and gives us good visibility for the rest of the year. It's to that future that I'll now turn. Our strategy is delivering growth. It's done so in a market that continues to be constrained by affordability. I'm pleased to say that we're on track to deliver our guidance of 11,000-11,500 completions, reflecting a second year of strong outlet volume and profit growth. As we look ahead, we're not expecting a demand stimulus from the government or a significant improvement in affordability, other than through real terms, wage growth, and modest reductions to interest rates. Growth remains dependent on our own self-help measures. I've set out today that there's more investment and innovation to come to build on the success and progress we've already seen. An enhanced reputation, together with improving sales and marketing, are crucial to selling more of our attractively priced, good value homes. Our expanding factories and vertical integration are crucial to meeting demand in an efficient way. We're creating a growing platform with diversified brands selling more homes and then building them more efficiently. We expect to see further growth in 2026 as we keep opening outlets and increasing sales across all our brands, building volume, key drivers of growth in this market. As Andrew originally set out in March, the pace of margin improvement will be gradual, uneven, and back-end loaded. Historical build cost inflation is still working through our sites, albeit as we look ahead, it's a diminishing headwind. That, coupled with constrained affordability and the challenges and increasing costs of opening sites, including in particular between outline and reserve matters, means there'll be a drag on margins. Nevertheless, I'm confident we'll still grow volumes, profits, and margins next year. As we expect, we expect volumes to grow broadly in line with outlet openings, and we anticipate margins to grow at a similar pace to this year. Assuming a stable market, the combined effect of increasing volumes and margin expansion will produce robust, profitable growth in 2026. Looking beyond 2026, our ambitions remain to grow our operating margin and return on capital employed to 20%. With the bulk of our building safety works completed by the end of 2027, we'll have a flexibility to deploy the capital how we choose. As you saw on Andrew's slide, work has started or finished on over 80% of our buildings compared to the industry, which is at 48%. This is a real competitive advantage. As a result of the division decisions we've taken, we have a growing company with growing prospects and growing ambitions, and we're seeking to build a structural competitive advantage for the business. The business is in a really good place, and we're really looking forward to the growth to come. On that positive note, I'll take some questions. Front row? Thanks, Will Jones from Rothschild & Co Redburn. First, if you could help us just put some numbers around your price and build cost experience at the moment. I think you mentioned 5% on the private ASP second half to date. What would you estimate of that is organic and similar for build cost, please? The second was really just exploring the point around land mix. Quite active in the first half on new land buying. Do you think you're achieving margins akin to the embedded land bank you've currently got? When we think about the feed through of that, I think you've mentioned next year over 50% of the outlets with embedded build cost inflation. Is that a lower number than in 2025? Any thoughts on the pace of that reduction, I suppose, as you go beyond 2026? Can we say those? Okay, morning Will. Yeah, look, ASP, we are pushing that. I mean, clearly there's a whole raft of things in there with this, but the mix of product, Charles Church, and so on. As I said earlier, we're seeing opportunity to push on prices, particularly in the north and in Scotland, more than in the south. Affordability is just a more acute challenge in the south. We don't forecast a kind of ASP inflation or ASP growth, but you can see in the order book that the ASP has continued to be robust, which is encouraging. Build cost inflation in the current year is where we said it would be. We said it would be low single digits, and that's really, really still what we're seeing. Jumping to your third question, just whilst we're on inflation. Of course that will diminish, but it diminishes over time. As we get through into 2027, 2028, that will continue to diminish as a feature. What you have to remember, and the reason, I'm kind of telling you what you all know, but it's just useful to sort of articulate it out loud, I suppose. When you buy a large site, or you might buy a site on outline with detailed planning for phase one, then phase two and phase three will come through in due course. That's why when you see inflation a couple of years ago, it does take time for that to wind its way through the system. It's just a kind of mathematical factor of that. That will reduce beyond 2026, and it will gradually taper off. Land buying, I think the key thing is there are a lot of opportunities. There's lots of opportunities to buy land, lots of opportunities to buy land at the right hurdle rates with the right cash profiles. There is a lot of opportunity that we're seeing, and it comes across our desk. We are making sure that we're trying to buy the right sites for the future. Absolutely, pleased with what we've been able to do in the land market. Thanks. Aynsley Lammin from Investec, two questions, please. I'm interested in a bit more color on recent trading kind of into the second half. It doesn't seem to be as incrementally negative as maybe some others have said. Just what you're seeing there, you know, pricing, sales rates. Second question, I guess on the FY 2026 outlook, it seems quite early to be speaking about FY 2026. Is that just a reflection? You just stated the facts of what you see in the land bank and, you know, the cost embedded there, as you said. When you look at the macro outlook and the U.K. backdrop, are you just incrementally less hopeful of any HPI coming through? What's driving the timing of that comment for today? Thanks. I'll have a go. You can correct me if I get it wrong. The trading is good at the moment. We did see, as others have commented on, for about three weeks in May, a bit of a decline, but then it bounced back. It's continued to be pretty good. I mean, we always see a decline in sales at this time of year. It's just seasonal. Relative to last year, our performance is good. A few weeks ago, I thought pricing was maybe going a little bit softer. That seems to have bounced back. I think as well, it's important to remember when you're growing a business, you've got more choice. You can afford to take different decisions. We haven't quite got that pressure to sell from a constrained and declining base. I guess we've got more opportunities. The product is really good. We're also seeing a kind of renaissance of Charles Church, which the whole business is incredibly excited about. Much as I love what we're doing in Charles Church, I just think what we're doing at Persimmon gets better and better. I think we're building, as I roam around the business, causing mayhem, I see we're building fantastic products in locations where the real competitor is the second-hand market. What we're building actually is in those niche markets, actually aspirational for people in those markets. I'm just delighted with the progress we're making, and we're seeing that strength come through. I think that's really important. On 2026, do you want to cover that? I just wanted to get across the point about this embedded inflation, that it's just going to tip over. Actually, it becomes over time, it will go from a headwind to a tailwind as it drops off, which gives us the confidence to reiterate our margin opportunities. We just thought this was the right moment to set our views, and we depend on self-help, don't we? Yeah, we do. I think to the point of your question, we're not expecting the market to change. We're not trying to make a call on the market. We're looking in the current market and what we're doing around self-help, around outlets, what we see as opportunity in the business. I think it's also just a little bit of tidy up on the margin progression. It's just the pace. It's just a nudge on that, which I think is just to try and give you an early line of sight. It's just to try and be straightforward on it, really, is all we try to do. I will come to that side in a moment. Thank you. On this cost inflation, which you mentioned was quite high a couple of years ago, I guess, since COVID. Can you remind us what's the driver of that? Is that raw material, labor, maybe land cost, perhaps? The second is on this capital allocation opportunity you mentioned. After we've done this building safety work, what kind of capital allocation are you thinking? Could share buyback be an option? Thank you. Okay, no problem. Actually, I mean, if you cast your mind back, you know, 2022, you had energy spikes, you know, going into material pricing. You had, you know, you had inflation running in double digits for a prolonged period of time. Of course, you know, where you have bought a piece of land, you know, the feature of that period was that that inflation was not mirrored in house price inflation. Hence, you know, that cost inflation became a margin squeeze at that period of time. That's all, you know, that's all sort of the matter of fact as it was at the time. The point that we're just flagging is that those sites, you know, land is a clearly, you know, it takes a long period of time between agreeing terms and buying a piece of land until you have finished trading out on those sites. That's the point that we're flagging, that that impact will continue to be felt, you know, this year, next year, and then, you know, it starts to diminish. I think on the capital allocation point, I mean, I'm not going to give you the answer to what we'll do with the policy review. The point is I'm spending £100 million a year in round sum at the moment. That's £0.30 a share cash cost. Clearly, once I'm through my fire safety work, you know, in a couple of years' time, that gives me £100 million of opportunity, if you like, to think about how I deploy that money, whether that be around growing the business, whether that be about shareholder returns, you know, there's a whole raft of pieces. The point is, at that point it becomes an opportunity for us to make that decision positively as opposed to us having to deal with the remediation work. It's good that we're dealing with it. It's the right thing to do. What we're doing is pointing out that this is a cash opportunity for us in due course. We'd better go this side to be fair. Thanks. Mark Howson from Dowgate, just a few questions. Obviously, the bulk of the story, the first question, the bulk of the story is obviously about the Persimmon product, getting that land right, etc. Can you just shed a bit more light on Charles Church, you know, why that's a better margin product going forward, how you positioned it? That's the first question. Okay, in each of our segments, we're very much focused on the affordable end of it. It's an uptick from Persimmon. It's bigger, but it's still very much a premium economy. We're finding, I mean, we're building bigger products, so naturally there's a bigger ASP associated with it. What we're finding is that if you pick your markets well, and there's some good markets out there, there's real demand. I can think of one of our sites in Bristol, for instance, where it's a really good development. We're building it well. We're continuing to improve what we're building, the appearance of what we're building, and the demand gets stronger and stronger because it's really, again, it's competition. It's not really the new build around it. It's competition. It's second-hand houses up the hill in Westbury on Trim, and it's doing really well. We're getting downsizers coming to it. It's the right size for people, and they're willing to pay a premium for that product. We're seeing that in other locations. I can talk to others at Litchfield and elsewhere. If you choose your markets well, and we've got plenty of opportunities, the demand is really strong. Just a second question from me, just on the Mauer, you know, the product up in Castle Bromwich. You could get that watertight within five days as opposed to eight to ten weeks. Can you just say what the early feedback is on how the construction teams are finding that product on site? That's a second question. Thanks. If you like. When I cover, there's two bits. The Mauer product itself, Mark, is still early. We're doing a trial on that product in situ with a customer this half year, but that is still very early days in terms of taking it into production on site. It is exciting because it gives us an opportunity for both speed and delivery with fewer resources required. That particular piece is early still, but is showing the continued progress that we're making in terms of innovation around vertical integration. The timber frame product itself, you know, I think the important thing is that we are using that now more widely around the country. For whatever reason, it's always being used in some regions extensively and in some regions have just stuck to traditional build. What we're looking to do, particularly with the new line in Castle Bromwich, with the new factory that we're looking to develop, is to make sure that our take-up of timber frame is more consistent across the country. We're now trialing and using timber frame in those regions that haven't had the experience previously. That's actually working well in some really good examples. When you talk to teams, they've been really pleased with how that's worked. I think probably the timber frame product, more generally in the industry, is better now than it used to be. Some of those sort of legacy concerns actually have proved not to be the case anymore. I'm really pleased with how our local construction teams and Managing Directors have lent into that and taken that on board as they look to extend the use of timber frame. Kind of perversely as well, actually, where the market is strongest for us at the moment is where we're slowest to build. If we can get the adoption of a timber frame through the business, and it is a particular skill which teams have got to learn to get used to, then you've got the compounding benefit of there's a really strong market out there. We can sell them as fast as we can build them still. Stay this side for a minute. Morning, Adrian Kearsey, Panmure Liberum. A couple of questions, if I may. One on dual branded sites. 35 of the 53 Charles Church sites are dual branded sites. Is that a similar kind of proportion you'd expect going forward as you grow the business? Related to that, when you look at a dual branded site, are the sales rates for Charles Church similar to single brand sites? A third question, if I may. You're increasing outlets or plan to increase outlets by 5% in 2026. You talked about the changing WIP dynamics coming through from the investment in infrastructure. How should we think of the evolution of WIP in relation to that infrastructure investment going into 2026? [audio distortion] Yeah, there's plenty of opportunities for us to continue to roll out dual branded sites across the business, and we'll continue to do that. Over time, I would hope that we increase that proposition. Of course, it really does depend on every single individual market and other opportunities of land that come through. As well as a strategy, there's also opportunism in there. It depends just where the land is. Charles Church, being a bigger product, inevitably has a slower sales rate than Persimmon, but what it is doing is overall accelerating their sales rate and therefore the asset turn on a dual branded site. It's doing the job it's, you know, we're asking it to do, really. Yeah, Adrian, on the outlets and the way I mean, it obviously depends site by site because they're all so different. I'm probably thinking you're at £10 million, £20 million of WIP to get a new outlet open. It clearly depends on offsite work, it depends on access, it depends on a whole raft of features. There is investment. I think what we're probably also finding is that, and probably particularly on Charles Church, actually, customers want to see the product. Again, as you open the site, there's probably a bit more WIP because you want to be a bit further through on the build so that the customers can see the products. That maybe is a different feature to a decade ago when you probably sold more from plan. I think, and particularly at a higher price point, we're seeing that is undoubtedly a feature. Morning, Chris Millington, Deutsche Numis. First of all, I just wanted to ask about the shape of the balance sheet. Obviously, you're looking forward to the end of the fire safety. What would you like to see adjusted gearing in this business? Obviously, land creditors are potentially quite a big moving part in that. I'll go one at a time. It's probably better. Chris, we haven't set a target for adjusted gearing. I think what we have said is at this point of the market, we're happy that we are using the balance sheet strength more, which is why our gearing has increased a shade. 8% adjusted gearing is still, I think, entirely fine. I think as we progress, probably not in 2026, but certainly through 2027, 2028, as the fire safety piece comes back and as the business is growing, you'll see that starting to come back the other way. I'm happy that at this part of the cycle, investing for growth is the right thing to do. Letting that adjusted gearing just increase a little bit is fine. That's very helpful. Next one I've got really is the 20% target margin versus the 14.5% at the moment. What are the components together? I presume it's a land mix, an overhead recovery. I'm not asking for specifics, just a general sort of build there. Yeah, so it's a raft of pieces in there, Chris. Overhead recovery, so clearly as we continue to grow volumes, and yeah, that will be a big piece of there. We've already talked through the Q&A on Charles Church, which clearly we've said will grow faster, and that is delivering a higher margin. Clearly, the land mix, and in particular within that, the embedded inflation, as that starts to come off, that will also feed in there. As we deliver more volume with that vertical integration piece and that speed of build that we just talked through with Mark's question, those are the key pieces. We set out in March, as we said during the presentation, it will be back-ended, and it will be bumpy, and there will be pieces coming towards us, whether it's say on regulatory costs and so on, which we will need to deal with as we go through there. I think it's not, you know, we always said it wouldn't, it's not just a kind of straight line trajectory up there, but those are the key building blocks. If I may just come in, I think when you think through the consequences of us suffering 33% build cost inflation and, you know, flat to modest ASP growth, that's a hell of a thing to absorb. Inevitably, we are working through sites that we bought ahead of that that suffered that build cost inflation, and nobody prices that sort of level into the market. For instance, last week, we got a ticket on a piece of land up in Teesside. That was one of the first bits of land that I was asked to sign off when I joined the business five years ago. Two things in that. You can see what's happened there, and you can see how long it's taken us to get planning through. That is still, nevertheless, a good piece of land that I wouldn't turn away. Is it as high as our historical margins? No, it's not. Is that going to create shareholder value going forward? Yes, it is. We are going to transact and buy that piece of land. You can see that impact. That is actually quite a beefy piece of drag on the margin, which will impact us for the next few years. When that comes off and writes itself, it has a really positive impact. I think land going forward, as we're buying land adjusted to new costs, it really does help our margin story. Also, I think the benefits of vertical integration will help us as well. There's a margin uptick coming from that as we build faster. Final one, and it's about whether the government are likely to give us anything in this sector rather than take away at the moment. You're hearing anything on demand side stimulus? Yeah, I could go on about the government. It's not our central case that we think that there's, you know, everybody can see the fiscal pressures are really tight. I think we've seen real positivity on planning and getting consent. That's a really good piece of news. I think though we need to see a focus brought further down, if you like, the pipeline of bringing a site from consent into production. The logjams that were there on providing consent are now gone, but we're now seeing it can be quite challenging to go from, you've got the ticket, to getting onto it because you've got discharge conditions or you've got water problems you've got to deal with, nutrients problems you've got to deal with, and so on. There are still blockages there. As you can see, we're knocking them over because we're growing. If there was a plea from me to government, it would be, please unlock, as you've unlocked planning, can you unlock our discharge conditions as well so we could move faster? Our strategy though is about self-help, and that's what we're really focused on. You can see in these results, I think, that it's working. We've grown ASPs, we've grown completions, we've grown consent, we've grown outlets, we've grown profits. You know, it's working. Thanks, Ami Galla from Citi. A few questions from me. The first one, a follow-up on the margin evolution next year. Can you give us some color as to the sales and marketing investments that you've been making? Has that spend normalized now, or you touch upon a new marketing platform next year? Is there sort of an incremental OpEx investment on that bucket? The second question was on planning. You've given us some helpful color on your approach to planning. On the successes that you've had so far into this year, is there a regional bias, or has it been broad-based? The last question was just on the CapEx spend, your ambitions on investment in Space4 across the brick and tile facility as well. Can you give us some sort of guiding post as to how to think about CapEx in the business over the next two to three years? Do you want to do the planning one, Dean? Yeah. No, planning across the country is, you know, pretty consistent. There's no regional bias. The marketing, I mean, there is, I guess, a couple of things. We've invested in the teams more generally, whether that's training. We've talked about mystery shopping on the slides, and that is, if you like, a permanent investment. I think if you compare the cost of sales and marketing now and in this cycle to the cost of sales and marketing five to ten years ago in the previous cycle, there is a step change up because it is more competitive. It's harder to sell houses. Customer expectations are higher. The requirements onto our sales and marketing teams are higher, so there is a step change there. We are spending at the moment on, as Dean said, a couple of things, the new website, which will come through, and then more broadly, our new kind of CRM platform, I suppose, permanently. That will be spent through this year and next year. In terms of CapEx, we obviously spent some money on the Space4 line that you could see on the photographs. We will be spending a little bit of money on the new line in the brick factory up in Doncaster. I guess the bigger piece of CapEx will be as we start to build our second timber frame factory. The important thing is, this is a good use of capital because the returns that we get, both in terms of the volumes that we get off there, the cost of delivery, and the speed of build that we get from the timber frame. These are good capital investments for us. To the next one. Zaim Beekawa, JPMorgan. Thanks for taking my questions. A couple here. One on the BCR market. You mentioned 14 new partners. What's exactly driving that? Why they, what's or what you're doing to attract them? Secondly, I think you mentioned the land market seeing good opportunities. How does it differ in terms of size? You see some appetite for larger land. I maybe squeeze one in on the land market. Are you seeing sort of opportunities for larger plots of land versus smaller ones? Maybe squeezing one on the brick and tile lines factory. Just how much the new line in terms of capacity will give you? Thank you. I do. Why don't I start and you can jump in, Dean, if that's fine. In terms of BTTR partners, I think this goes back to the work that the company's been doing over the last three, four, five years around the whole piece on quality, on customer service, on the products. If you go to our sites, and it's not just Charles Church sites, it's Persimmon sites, they look good. The sites look good, they stand well, the environment they're in is good, so the customer journey is, I think, I wasn't here, so I wasn't as closely involved as Dean, but I think it's a step change in terms of that quality journey and the quality of the product. That's why we've been able to now start to work with more partners, as well as in the way that we try to do business. I think we're straightforward. I think we try to deliver what we say we're going to deliver and so on. We are a business, and because we're growing, we've got new sites, there's opportunity. All of these things kind of come together. I suppose if you put the question the other way around, if you were a build-to-rent provider, actually Persimmon is now looking like a pretty attractive partner for you. I think it's a whole raft of these features and the improvement in the business and the platform is now allowing us to work with that broader range of partners. In terms of land opportunities, I would say it's across the piece, so some large schemes, small schemes, and of course, now that we have the Charles Church opportunity, it doesn't, of course, work in every single locality, but in some localities that gives us opportunities to look at different size pieces of land as well. I think we're seeing good opportunities across the country and across the whole breadth of size of pieces. I think the land market is open to us at the moment. It comes back to cash allocation and having a balance sheet to be able to play in that market. I think that's an important piece and something, again, that Persimmon is able to do. I don't know whether you want to say anything else on the land. I'll just say one more thing on land. We talked about a lot of, you know, impact to a better service and quality on customers, but actually it's really important to the land market as well. I've sat this year in front of a number of new groups of landowners to us for whom actually reputation for them is really important. As they can see our product improving, they want to talk to us. They wouldn't have talked to us in the past. The developments in Charles Church are really, really important. I can think of one site that we've just exchanged on in East Anglia, where showing that our build quality and service was much improved was absolutely vital. Even more important was the appearance of the sites that we're now building. In a competitive market, we didn't bid the highest price, but we won that land because we were seen as a good partner and now they could trust us to build. I think the work we're doing there is not to be overlooked and it is opening up opportunities for us. Just mopping up on the brickworks. Last year we were, I can't remember the exact percentage, sort of 60% or so of our delivery was with our own bricks. The factory there is working 24/7. Now we're obviously growing outlets and I want to continue to be able to deliver that volume, mid-60% of bricks. That's why we're putting the extra capacity in. That capacity will come online. We'll build that through next year and that will be online later next year. We'd better go a bit towards the back, I think, and then we'll come back if we're done. Alastair Stewart from Progressive. A couple of related questions on New Build Boost. Can you give a bit more detail on what that will entail and how many of your buyers could end up using it? Dean, I was interested to hear you unprompted in your closing remarks saying you don't expect a demand stimulus from government. You seem to have broken ranks a bit with your peers in that they're still banging on about that. Is this a viewpoint you've had for a while or have you had the heads up from any civil servants of late? Sure, shall I answer that in your New Build Boost? If you like, yeah. I mean, look, obviously if there was a demand stimulus, we certainly wouldn't turn it away. It's just that we're not expecting it. It's not our, I don't think hope is a strategy. Hoping that there's going to be a demand stimulus tomorrow, when it seems to me, given the fiscal constraints the government are under, it seems a pretty low probability. We're not waiting for that. That's why our strategy has all been about self-help. If we do get a demand stimulus, then that doesn't negate what we're doing. Actually, it will give us a tailwind. Happy days. Our central assumption is that there's not going to be a demand stimulus anytime soon. Happy to be proven wrong, I think. Segueing beautifully into New Build Boost, it's an example where we're not waiting for someone else to do it for us. Actually, we're looking at what can we do to try to get that incremental assistance ourselves. New Build Boost is a good example of the self-help strategy in action, and it's incrementally helpful. By the way, so is the fact that interest rates are a little bit lower. So is the fact that the banks are lending at slightly higher multiples of income. These are all incrementally helpful. I don't think any of them individually are an absolute silver bullet, but I think it's all helpful. What New Build Boost is doing, I mean, so clearly we're funding the 15% element of New Build Boost. What it's doing, as Dean said earlier, is it's driving more people to site, so it's driving interest. Some people who are coming to site, I think, through the New Build Boost and through the marketing from that are then finding actually there's a traditional mortgage product which suits them, and that's entirely fine. Actually driving customers to site and then driving interest is what it's all about. New Build Boost is helpful for those people who actually their salary multiples just can't allow them to borrow enough to purchase a house. That's where the New Build Boost with the 15% interest-free element is really helpful. It's a good example of, as we say, not waiting for a government demand stimulus. If we get one, then that's great. In addition, whether some of your peers are thinking along similar lines? We are looking at other similar products as well. I don't know, Barratt referenced something in their statement in July. I think it's good that we were first to market. I think that says something about the platform that we're building, that we're first to market again with this product. I think if I may just come in, there's no one silver bullet. There just isn't. It's a whole raft of things, I think. Whilst I think New Build Boost has been good for us and has helped drive people to sites, it is not what's underpinning the growth we're seeing here. There's one up front, sorry. Hi, thanks. It's Marcus Cole at UBS. I've got two questions as well. I'm just thinking about Charles Church. How should we think about the mix impact to ASP at a group level for 2026? The second one is just on vertical integration. You've spoken about the margin benefit on multiplications. Could you quantify this? Yeah, I picked both of those. I mean, Marcus, without it, it is quite hard to give you that sort of ASP mix of 2026 already. Clearly, we're looking to grow Charles Church and grow Charles Church faster than the rest of the business. Clearly, that is helpful to the overall blended ASP. I think what's helpful, perhaps just by background, is that in our private ASP growth in the first half year, which was up 7%, both Persimmon Homes and Charles Church ASP grew. We saw growth in both. The ASP growth in the first half year wasn't purely because of the mix of Charles Church and Persimmon being flat. Actually, we saw growth in both markets, which is helpful, and we'll continue to look at that. As we grow Charles Church, all other things being equal, it will have access to a slight drag to ASP. On the flip side, of course, build-to-rent is still going to be 10%-15% of our business, and arguably that goes the other way. There are various moving parts. In terms of vertical integration, I think we talked about this earlier in the year, that is across the whole piece. If you use our own tiles and our own bricks, we know there is cost saving there, which is in the order of £2,000-£2,500 per plot compared to the open market. If you put the timber frame in, and if you include the speed of build, the overhead saving, the premium saving because of the speed of build, then you're moving a cost saving per plot up into somewhere between £5,000 and £6,000 probably over, all in. It could be significant. Clearly, there's some work for us to do there in terms of making sure that we drive the take-up of that, as we said earlier to Mark's question. There is real opportunity. The other piece, which is cost is clearly important, but the other piece which we should also just reference is that it gives us security of our own supply chain. It gives us control. If you think about it on bricks or tiles, 80% of our products use our own roof tiles. That means that we're in control of our own destiny there. Again, with timber frame, you need fewer people. As you grow in the business and as the sector grows, if we can deliver the same volume or more volume with fewer people on site, that is, again, very helpful. It's a cost benefit, but there's a whole range of wider benefits, I think, as well. There's two over this side. Glynis Johnson, Jefferies, just a few sort of, almost just following ups. One, just in terms of cost controls, you mentioned it sort of almost in your first statement about the commercial, control of costs. A bit more elaboration, what are you doing? Why is it maybe different? Land intake, can you split it between strategic land conversions and actually what's been bought in the open market? Your 300 outlet count, can you remind us how much of that is coming from Charles Church? Are dual branded sites counted as two? Are they counted as one? Just so we can understand the numbers. Previously, you referenced bringing forward some of those longer sites, with its partnerships. You've talked about in terms of, you know, completions, but maybe you can talk about in terms of sites, how many of those sites have you actually done that on? Can you remind us of the difference between the site growth and the reported growth? You referenced the, you know, site costs, but what actually should there be there? Lastly, you referenced it just a couple of questions ago in terms of changes in lending criteria. Are you seeing that actually, at the coal face right now, or is that something you're anticipating to come through? That's a lot of questions. Just a few. Should we try and divvy those up between us? Simon's taken over Group Commercial and he's having a real impact. At the same time, through both his expertise and, frankly, sheer force of personality, he is driving a consistency in the business, which is absolutely fantastic. There is an opportunity for us there. Possible brandable losses are running in the business at about between £40 million and £50 million as we would measure them. I am confident that Simon will make a real inroad into that over the course of the coming years. He's doing that at the same time as driving digitalization in the business. He's now playing around with AI in that space. As you can imagine, I think that area is actually quite perfect for AI. I'm quite excited about the benefits. I can't give you a timeline. I can't tell you where and how much, but kind of watch this space because I think there's real benefits both in terms of his expertise, his standardization, and what AI might bring us. I am actually really, really excited about that. If I dot about a bit, if that's all right with you, Andrew, I think in terms of changing, we have seen some benefit from the relaxation of, you know, from 4.5%-5.6% lending during the course of the year. I think that has clearly helped us, helped by our customer base. Very hard to put a precise number on it. We frankly just don't know. I think, as Andrew said earlier, it's one of the things that is in the mix that has helped us achieve the results that we are now achieving. You can see quite clearly in our results, we are pleased with the progress we've made on pricing. That's really been the strategy this year to help us deal with embedded cost inflation and helping to drive the margin forward. I think that's really important. On partnerships, we've probably got across the group at the moment two or three. It's at that level at this stage. That may grow, but it's very much on a case-by-case basis. It's useful where it works and where we have a large site. Just your dual branding bit, that's probably contributed about two or three outlets. Net, I mean, we talked about 53, I think, in terms of Charles Church now. That was at 49 at the start of the year. So that sort of level, but it's also valid. It opens up a new market for us in the same place. They were the easy questions. I think the other, I think there's two others. Stratland, you know, still about 40% or so of our delivery is from sites that were sourced from Stratland. In terms of the pull-through in any one period, of course, it's lumpy just because of the nature of them coming through. We have pulled through from Stratland in the first half as well. I'll have to come back to you with the exact number of plots. The completion percentage has stayed pretty stable in that 40%. In terms of the margins, it's consistent with where we've been before. Between site margin and gross margins, obviously our gross margins in a half year are about 20%. There's probably somewhere between 400 and 800 bps of difference. It depends a little because some of those costs are fixed costs. Some of those costs are variable but not related to deliveries. Things like in terms of customer care and maintenance, that's why there's quite a wide range. I guess it's also why I drew attention to the chart of the land cost to revenue. Different companies might put different things in different buckets as they go down the P&L, but your land to revenue is probably very comparable across different companies. I think that is a useful measure as well. It shows the differences between site margin and gross margin are, as I said, things like maintenance costs, your fixed construction base, your fixed sales and marketing cost teams, as well as the variable elements of those as well. Just to be clear, some sites have double the costs as percentage points impact between sites and direct site and embedded. Going from your embedded margin that you talk about to actually your gross, what you're saying is some sites have 400 basis points, some have 800 [crosstalk]. I'm saying that's across the group depending on what you said because some of those differences are fixed costs. As we move through, as the volumes change, the leverage of that difference will reduce through leverage. Things like the fixed cost of my sales and marketing team, not related to individual sites, clearly I'm absorbing that at the moment over fewer units than I absorb it over as we grow. That's why I'm saying there's a range. It's not based on individual sites, it's based on through the cycle. What are you buying sites for? What is, when you're putting, what is the long-term assumption in terms of the difference between the site and the reported gross? Right, which is why we have an industry-leading margin. Right, these two here. Morning, Sam Cullen from Peel Hunt. I've got two. They're both related to the vertical integration piece. You’ve mentioned that you want to improve the take-up. What is the take-up now? At what point does it really start to make a difference on the cost saving? What's the tipping point? Secondly, related to the cost savings, you've articulated those, but is it truly margin accretive from where we stand? If we forget the unwind of the build cost inflation over the last few years, net net, will this actually improve margin or is it a relative advantage that the counterfactual HPI will grow at 1% or 2% and build cost inflation might grow at 3% or 4%? It's just going to offset that negative spread medium term. Let me divide your first question in two parts, between brick and tile and between timber frame. When I started five years ago, the take-up of our brick was less than 10% within the business because it was an unpopular product within the company. Now it's well over 50% and it's growing. Two things have happened there. We've invested in the brick itself to improve its quality, so that's dealt with concerns. We've also improved its aesthetics, which means now that when you go to planning authorities, it's a more attractive product and is taken up. Frankly, I think for many of our developments, it's now really pretty good and it sits very well and it's as good as many clay products. I'm very happy with what we've done with bricks. The problem we've got at the moment is we've got excessive demand over our production capabilities, which is why we've moved to 24/7 and why we're going to have to put a new line in. It does give us cost savings and they do contribute to our margin and I think they will continue to do so in the future. It's not just about security of supply, although I think that's really important. It shields us from cost increases and contributes to the cost advantage I think we have. In terms of timber frame, we've got at the moment just over half the business takes up our timber frame. As we said in the presentation, another seven are within the business, another seven regions are taking up this year and another seven I think will take it up next year, which means it will be across the business then. There I think it will contribute to, it will do both of what you said, it will shield us from costs, but I believe it will contribute to a real accretion to margin as well because we'll ask it to turn. You can build faster by about 10 weeks. Yes, there's an incremental cost, although actually very interesting if you do it right, that incremental cost is pre-marginal now. I think we can bear down on that further. I am really excited about the opportunity that will bring. As I said to you earlier, we've got this problem at the moment within the business. It's actually where we can sell fastest, we build slowest. If we can pivot into that, which is what we're doing, I think that's really, really, really good. Just one here. Thanks very much. Charlie Campbell with Stifel, just two quick ones, I think. Of your 277 sites, how many could take a Charles Church outlet? Just give us an idea on that. Could you say something about part exchange that's gone up in the first half? Just wondering kind of what trends look like on that side. It's picked up a little bit, but I mean it's not huge. The PX, I think it's about 24% of what we're doing now. Yeah, it is. The important thing, by the way, Charlie, is that most of those units that were on the balance sheet as at the 30th of June were already reserved at the 30th of June. They're working through, so we are turning it quickly. It is an important tool. Yeah, it's moved a little bit, but I think it will bubble around that sort of 20, low 20%. We'll sort of break even on it or make a modest, you know, cover our costs. It consumes cash, but you have to do it, you know, is where it is. I guess on Charles Church, it's not so much on what we've got at the moment. It's what are the opportunities? I think they're probably pretty well established. It's what are the opportunities for what's in the land bank and new land opportunities that come to us on the market as well. That's what is underpinning our ambitions to double it over the course of the next few years to go from, you know, 10% of the business to 20% of the business. No more hands up. Thank you very much for your time and interest this morning. If I can just say a few words to sum up, look, I think the business is in really, really good shape. It's good fun. We are pushing on with our plans and we're not waiting around for events. We're looking to build structural benefits for ourselves. Some of the benefits I think you can see coming through in these results. Other things being equal, we're good for guidance in 2025. We'll see good profit growth in 2025 and good profit growth again in 2026. Finally, you know, our cladding position I think is really important. As you tell, ripping these buildings apart, it's not pretty and there's lots of costs. Getting through it is really, really important as quickly as possible. I think we're in a good place. Thank you very much.

Speaker 4: Good morning all. Thanks for joining us today. I'm joined by Andrew and other members of the team are around as well if you want to catch them later. The theme of these half-year results is that we've continued to grow the business and at the same time enhanced our capabilities for the future. As I pointed out in our statement, our focus on self-help has continued to deliver. We've grown in several key areas: completions, ASPs, sales rates ex bulk, outlets, consents, and profits, all whilst reducing our exposure to cladding. This differentiated performance is a product of our strategy and execution, and that's been brought about by the skill and expertise of my colleagues at Persimmon, whom I want to thank for this great performance. G ood morning all. g ood morning all Thanks for joining us today. thanks for joining us today I'm joined by Andrew and other members of the team are around as well if you want to catch them later. i'm joined by andrew and other members of the team are around as well if you want to catch them later The theme of these half-year results is that we've continued to grow the business and at the same time enhanced our capabilities for the future. the theme of these half-year results is that we've continued to grow the business and at the same time enhanced our capabilities for the future As I pointed out in our statement, our focus on self-help has continued to deliver. as i pointed out in our statement our focus on self-help has continued to deliver We've grown in several key areas: completions, ASPs, sales rates ex bulk, outlets, consents, and profits, all whilst reducing our exposure to cladding. we've grown in several key areas completions asps sales rates ex bulk outlets consents and profits all whilst reducing our exposure to cladding This differentiated performance is a product of our strategy and execution, and that's been brought about by the skill and expertise of my colleagues at Persimmon, whom I want to thank for this great performance. this differentiated performance is a product of our strategy and execution and that's been brought about by the skill and expertise of my colleagues at persimmon whom i want to thank for this great performance Persimmon's strategy involves choosing where to build, what to build, and how to build, and that approach enables us to provide exceptional homes at attractive prices to our target customer base. We continue to double down on our clear strategy through our investment in land, in our brands, in our build quality and customer service, and our factories. We're doing this whilst continuing to maintain a secure and strong balance sheet. Our strategy and our execution are enabling us to deliver profitable growth in contrast to a challenging market, and I believe it will enable us to continue to grow in the coming years. Our strategy is consistent and is clearly delivering, as the next slide, which I presented to you in March, shows. These five enablers: land, brands, quality and service, innovation and vertical integration, and balance sheet support and enable the delivery of our strategy. Persimmon's strategy involves choosing where to build, what to build, and how to build, and that approach enables us to provide exceptional homes at attractive prices to our target customer base. persimmon's strategy involves choosing where to build what to build and how to build and that approach enables us to provide exceptional homes at attractive prices to our target customer base We continue to double down on our clear strategy through our investment in land, in our brands, in our build quality and customer service, and our factories. we continue to double down on our clear strategy through our investment in land in our brands in our build quality and customer service and our factories We're doing this whilst continuing to maintain a secure and strong balance sheet. we're doing this whilst continuing to maintain a secure and strong balance sheet Our strategy and our execution are enabling us to deliver profitable growth in contrast to a challenging market, and I believe it will enable us to continue to grow in the coming years. our strategy and our execution are enabling us to deliver profitable growth in contrast to a challenging market and i believe it will enable us to continue to grow in the coming years Our strategy is consistent and is clearly delivering, as the next slide, which I presented to you in March, shows. our strategy is consistent and is clearly delivering as the next slide which i presented to you in march shows These five enablers: land, brands, quality and service, innovation and vertical integration, and balance sheet support and enable the delivery of our strategy. these five enablers land brands quality and service innovation and vertical integration and balance sheet support and enable the delivery of our strategy Our high-quality land bank and industry-leading planning success combined are driving outlet growth. Our three strong and distinct brands are well positioned as attractive and very good value products in their respective markets. This brand diversification is undoubtedly driving sales and growth. Our significant and sustained progress on build quality and customer service is enabling us to better compete for customers, and that improves sales rates in a challenging market. Our investment in innovation and vertical integration is enhancing our build efficiency and our delivery now, with much more opportunities to come. Finally, our balance sheet remains a key strength. Our strategy and these enablers, coupled with our experienced teams, are both helping us to outperform now, as well as give us the confidence we will continue to do so in the future as we build our differentiated platform. Now I'll turn to what we've achieved in the first half. Our high-quality land bank and industry-leading planning success combined are driving outlet growth. our high-quality land bank and industry-leading planning success combined are driving outlet growth Our three strong and distinct brands are well positioned as attractive and very good value products in their respective markets. our three strong and distinct brands are well positioned as attractive and very good value products in their respective markets This brand diversification is undoubtedly driving sales and growth. this brand diversification is undoubtedly driving sales and growth Our significant and sustained progress on build quality and customer service is enabling us to better compete for customers, and that improves sales rates in a challenging market. our significant and sustained progress on build quality and customer service is enabling us to better compete for customers and that improves sales rates in a challenging market Our investment in innovation and vertical integration is enhancing our build efficiency and our delivery now, with much more opportunities to come. our investment in innovation and vertical integration is enhancing our build efficiency and our delivery now with much more opportunities to come Finally, our balance sheet remains a key strength. finally our balance sheet remains a key strength Our strategy and these enablers, coupled with our experienced teams, are both helping us to outperform now, as well as give us the confidence we will continue to do so in the future as we build our differentiated platform. our strategy and these enablers coupled with our experienced teams are both helping us to outperform now as well as give us the confidence we will continue to do so in the future as we build our differentiated platform Now I'll turn to what we've achieved in the first half. now i'll turn to what we've achieved in the first half As you can see, we had a good first half. Our underlying PBT is up 11%. I think that's a great performance and reflects our strong pricing and rigorous cost controls. Outlets are up 4% against industry trends. Our weekly sales are up year-on-year, and together with more outlets, that's driving more completions. We continue to invest in our excellent and growing land bank, and we've maintained our HBF five-star and are now rated excellent on Trustpilot for both Persimmon and Charles Church. Our underlying EPS is also up 3%. As Andrew will explain later, the reason EPSs are not up more is because 2024 benefited from a prior year tax credit. What I'm really pleased about is that our current total forward order book is up 9%, with private up 11%, giving us excellent visibility. It's been a strong performance despite the continued challenges in the market. As you can see, we had a good first half. as you can see we had a good first half Our underlying PBT is up 11%. our underlying pbt is up 11% I think that's a great performance and reflects our strong pricing and rigorous cost controls. i think that's a great performance and reflects our strong pricing and rigorous cost controls Outlets are up 4% against industry trends. outlets are up 4% against industry trends Our weekly sales are up year-on-year, and together with more outlets, that's driving more completions. our weekly sales are up year-on-year and together with more outlets that's driving more completions We continue to invest in our excellent and growing land bank, and we've maintained our HBF five-star and are now rated excellent on Trustpilot for both Persimmon and Charles Church. we continue to invest in our excellent and growing land bank and we've maintained our hbf five-star and are now rated excellent on trustpilot for both persimmon and charles church Our underlying EPS is also up 3%. our underlying eps is also up 3% As Andrew will explain later, the reason EPSs are not up more is because 2024 benefited from a prior year tax credit. as andrew will explain later the reason epss are not up more is because 2024 benefited from a prior year tax credit What I'm really pleased about is that our current total forward order book is up 9%, with private up 11%, giving us excellent visibility. what i'm really pleased about is that our current total forward order book is up 9% with private up 11% giving us excellent visibility It's been a strong performance despite the continued challenges in the market. it's been a strong performance despite the continued challenges in the market Andrew will now take you through the results in more detail, and then I'll say more on how our strategy has delivered and gives us confidence for the future. Andrew will now take you through the results in more detail, and then I'll say more on how our strategy has delivered and gives us confidence for the future. andrew will now take you through the results in more detail and then i'll say more on how our strategy has delivered and gives us confidence for the future

Speaker 11: Thank you, Dean. Good morning, everyone. I'm really pleased that we have delivered further growth in volumes and in profits in the first half of 2025, which is an excellent performance in the context of a very challenging market backdrop. New home completions were up 4%. Our blended ASP increased 8% to £284,000, and I'll come to the detail of this in a moment. The combination of volume and pricing drove housing revenue up 12% to over £1.3 billion and gross profit up 11% to £262 million. Gross margin was maintained at 20.1%, which is a good performance given the change in cost base over the last few years. Underlying operating profit increased 13% to £172 million, and I'm pleased to report a 10 bps increase in our margin to 13.1%. Thank you, Dean. thank you dean Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone I'm really pleased that we have delivered further growth in volumes and in profits in the first half of 2025, which is an excellent performance in the context of a very challenging market backdrop. i'm really pleased that we have delivered further growth in volumes and in profits in the first half of 2025 which is an excellent performance in the context of a very challenging market backdrop New home completions were up 4%. new home completions were up 4% Our blended ASP increased 8% to £284,000, and I'll come to the detail of this in a moment. our blended asp increased 8% to £284,000 and i'll come to the detail of this in a moment The combination of volume and pricing drove housing revenue up 12% to over £1.3 billion and gross profit up 11% to £262 million. the combination of volume and pricing drove housing revenue up 12% to over £1.3 billion and gross profit up 11% to £262 million Gross margin was maintained at 20.1%, which is a good performance given the change in cost base over the last few years. gross margin was maintained at 20.1% which is a good performance given the change in cost base over the last few years Underlying operating profit increased 13% to £172 million, and I'm pleased to report a 10 bps increase in our margin to 13.1%. underlying operating profit increased 13% to £172 million and i'm pleased to report a 10 bps increase in our margin to 13.1% Underlying PBT is up 11%, and this is after a £4 million increase in interest costs because of our lower cash balances, as expected. Although not on the slide, statutory PBT is flat after allowing for a £16 million exceptional charge in relation to the CMA commitments that you're aware of. Our tax rate is close to the statutory, 29%, and if you remember, the first half in 2024 had a lower tax rate because of some one-off items, and that boosted last year's underlying EPS. Putting all this together, underlying EPS this year has increased 3% to £36.80. We generated cash of £183 million before movements in working capital, and our return on capital employed has increased to 11.2%, reflecting the improved profitability and our continued balance sheet discipline. I think this is a particularly good metric in the period. Underlying PBT is up 11%, and this is after a £4 million increase in interest costs because of our lower cash balances, as expected. underlying pbt is up 11% and this is after a £4 million increase in interest costs because of our lower cash balances as expected Although not on the slide, statutory PBT is flat after allowing for a £16 million exceptional charge in relation to the CMA commitments that you're aware of. although not on the slide statutory pbt is flat after allowing for a £16 million exceptional charge in relation to the cma commitments that you're aware of Our tax rate is close to the statutory, 29%, and if you remember, the first half in 2024 had a lower tax rate because of some one-off items, and that boosted last year's underlying EPS. our tax rate is close to the statutory 29% and if you remember the first half in 2024 had a lower tax rate because of some one-off items and that boosted last year's underlying eps Putting all this together, underlying EPS this year has increased 3% to £36.80. putting all this together underlying eps this year has increased 3% to £36.80 We generated cash of £183 million before movements in working capital, and our return on capital employed has increased to 11.2%, reflecting the improved profitability and our continued balance sheet discipline. we generated cash of £183 million before movements in working capital and our return on capital employed has increased to 11.2% reflecting the improved profitability and our continued balance sheet discipline I think this is a particularly good metric in the period. i think this is a particularly good metric in the period I'll now come back to sales mix and ASP in a bit more detail. Of the total new homes delivered, 3,987 were private. That's 7% higher than last year. This increase reflects our strong sales rate and an increased number of outlets, which has meant that our total sales per week, including bulk sales, has increased to 191 a week. Private completions include 590 bulk sales, which is 13% or 66 houses higher than last year as we continue to engage strategically with this sector. 34% of private sales were to first-time buyers, and this has always been, and it remains a very important market for us. Charles Church increased in line with our planned growth to 11% of private sales or 10% of total completions. Partnerships output fell to 13% of total completions, and this continues to reflect the acceleration of delivery in 2023. I'll now come back to sales mix and ASP in a bit more detail. i'll now come back to sales mix and asp in a bit more detail Of the total new homes delivered, 3,987 were private. of the total new homes delivered 3,987 were private That's 7% higher than last year. that's 7% higher than last year This increase reflects our strong sales rate and an increased number of outlets, which has meant that our total sales per week, including bulk sales, has increased to 191 a week. this increase reflects our strong sales rate and an increased number of outlets which has meant that our total sales per week including bulk sales has increased to 191 a week Private completions include 590 bulk sales, which is 13% or 66 houses higher than last year as we continue to engage strategically with this sector. 34% of private sales were to first-time buyers, and this has always been, and it remains a very important market for us. private completions include 590 bulk sales which is 13% or 66 houses higher than last year as we continue to engage strategically with this sector 34% of private sales were to first-time buyers and this has always been and it remains a very important market for us Charles Church increased in line with our planned growth to 11% of private sales or 10% of total completions. charles church increased in line with our planned growth to 11% of private sales or 10% of total completions Partnerships output fell to 13% of total completions, and this continues to reflect the acceleration of delivery in 2023. partnerships output fell to 13% of total completions and this continues to reflect the acceleration of delivery in 2023 Importantly, all of our affordable delivery is signed up for this year. The blended ASP on completions in the period was up 8%, and private ASP increased strongly, even allowing for the increase in bulk sales. There are a couple of things to just draw out. Firstly, pricing has been robust, particularly in the north of England and in Scotland, and we've pushed it on where we can do. Secondly, the pricing on our bulk units has also been strong, reflecting our more strategic approach. Overall, our product remains affordable, with our Persimmon Homes average selling price well below the new build national average and with over half of completions below £300,000. Across the period, average incentives on completions were around 4.5%, which is similar to 2024, but of course of higher pricing. Putting this all together, the combination of increased volume and increased ASP drove revenue up 12%. Importantly, all of our affordable delivery is signed up for this year. importantly all of our affordable delivery is signed up for this year The blended ASP on completions in the period was up 8%, and private ASP increased strongly, even allowing for the increase in bulk sales. the blended asp on completions in the period was up 8% and private asp increased strongly even allowing for the increase in bulk sales There are a couple of things to just draw out. there are a couple of things to just draw out Firstly, pricing has been robust, particularly in the north of England and in Scotland, and we've pushed it on where we can do. firstly pricing has been robust particularly in the north of england and in scotland and we've pushed it on where we can do Secondly, the pricing on our bulk units has also been strong, reflecting our more strategic approach. secondly the pricing on our bulk units has also been strong reflecting our more strategic approach Overall, our product remains affordable, with our Persimmon Homes average selling price well below the new build national average and with over half of completions below £300,000. overall our product remains affordable with our persimmon homes average selling price well below the new build national average and with over half of completions below £300,000 Across the period, average incentives on completions were around 4.5%, which is similar to 2024, but of course of higher pricing. across the period average incentives on completions were around 4.5% which is similar to 2024 but of course of higher pricing Putting this all together, the combination of increased volume and increased ASP drove revenue up 12%. putting this all together the combination of increased volume and increased asp drove revenue up 12% This slide provides the normal bridge showing underlying operating profit movement, and you can see the positive effect of increased volumes, increased average selling prices, and the mix of more private units. The movement in the cost line is small, and we remain focused on commercial disciplines and managing our costs closely. The operating expenses have increased by £7 million, which is a 9% increase, less than the 12% housing revenue increase, despite our ongoing investment in capabilities for the future. This bridges on an underlying basis. The only exceptional item in the period is £16.2 million in relation to our proposed contribution and the cost to date of the CMA investigation, and this is shown within administration expenses in the income statement. I'll now turn to the balance sheet. Our strong balance sheet is a platform that allows us to invest in the future growth of the business. This slide provides the normal bridge showing underlying operating profit movement, and you can see the positive effect of increased volumes, increased average selling prices, and the mix of more private units. this slide provides the normal bridge showing underlying operating profit movement and you can see the positive effect of increased volumes increased average selling prices and the mix of more private units The movement in the cost line is small, and we remain focused on commercial disciplines and managing our costs closely. the movement in the cost line is small and we remain focused on commercial disciplines and managing our costs closely The operating expenses have increased by £7 million, which is a 9% increase, less than the 12% housing revenue increase, despite our ongoing investment in capabilities for the future. the operating expenses have increased by £7 million which is a 9% increase less than the 12% housing revenue increase despite our ongoing investment in capabilities for the future This bridges on an underlying basis. this bridges on an underlying basis The only exceptional item in the period is £16.2 million in relation to our proposed contribution and the cost to date of the CMA investigation, and this is shown within administration expenses in the income statement. the only exceptional item in the period is £16.2 million in relation to our proposed contribution and the cost to date of the cma investigation and this is shown within administration expenses in the income statement I'll now turn to the balance sheet. i'll now turn to the balance sheet Our strong balance sheet is a platform that allows us to invest in the future growth of the business. our strong balance sheet is a platform that allows us to invest in the future growth of the business Land and WIP has increased £292 million since the turn of the year. We've invested in more land than we've utilized, and we've also increased our work in progress. There are three things to mention on WIP. Firstly, there's seasonality. We have more WIP at June than at December because we'll deliver more units in H2. Secondly, as we're opening new sites, there is increased WIP in relation to infrastructure spend. Of the increase in WIP, about half is related to external infrastructure, including on new sites. Thirdly, we held £164 million of PX stock at the end of June, and this is an important sales tool for us. We're focused on recycling these units back into cash quickly. Land creditors are a little bit lower than the start of the year, but the key thing is that we're still able to agree appropriate payment terms in the market. Land and WIP has increased £292 million since the turn of the year. land and wip has increased £292 million since the turn of the year We've invested in more land than we've utilized, and we've also increased our work in progress. we've invested in more land than we've utilized and we've also increased our work in progress There are three things to mention on WIP. there are three things to mention on wip Firstly, there's seasonality. firstly there's seasonality We have more WIP at June than at December because we'll deliver more units in H2. we have more wip at june than at december because we'll deliver more units in h2 Secondly, as we're opening new sites, there is increased WIP in relation to infrastructure spend. secondly as we're opening new sites there is increased wip in relation to infrastructure spend Of the increase in WIP, about half is related to external infrastructure, including on new sites. of the increase in wip about half is related to external infrastructure including on new sites Thirdly, we held £164 million of PX stock at the end of June, and this is an important sales tool for us. thirdly we held £164 million of px stock at the end of june and this is an important sales tool for us We're focused on recycling these units back into cash quickly. we're focused on recycling these units back into cash quickly Land creditors are a little bit lower than the start of the year, but the key thing is that we're still able to agree appropriate payment terms in the market. land creditors are a little bit lower than the start of the year but the key thing is that we're still able to agree appropriate payment terms in the market We reported net cash at June of £123 million, and taken together with land creditors, that means our gearing is about 8%. Our building safety provision stands at £208 million, which is down in the period. I'll come back to this in a moment. Net assets are up 2.4% since last June. Net assets per share are 22 bps higher than this time last year, and return on average capital employed is 120 bps higher than this time last year. These are all showing good progress. This is the normal cash bridge with the reduction in cash reflecting our investment in land and WIP as we grow the business. This is an important point. To grow the business, we need to invest cash. We've chosen to make this investment, and we can make that choice partly because our fire safety obligations are relatively smaller than for others. We reported net cash at June of £123 million, and taken together with land creditors, that means our gearing is about 8%. we reported net cash at june of £123 million and taken together with land creditors that means our gearing is about 8% Our building safety provision stands at £208 million, which is down in the period. our building safety provision stands at £208 million which is down in the period I'll come back to this in a moment. i'll come back to this in a moment Net assets are up 2.4% since last June. net assets are up 2.4% since last june Net assets per share are 22 bps higher than this time last year, and return on average capital employed is 120 bps higher than this time last year. net assets per share are 22 bps higher than this time last year and return on average capital employed is 120 bps higher than this time last year These are all showing good progress. these are all showing good progress This is the normal cash bridge with the reduction in cash reflecting our investment in land and WIP as we grow the business. this is the normal cash bridge with the reduction in cash reflecting our investment in land and wip as we grow the business This is an important point. this is an important point To grow the business, we need to invest cash. to grow the business we need to invest cash We've chosen to make this investment, and we can make that choice partly because our fire safety obligations are relatively smaller than for others. we've chosen to make this investment and we can make that choice partly because our fire safety obligations are relatively smaller than for others On the graphic, you can see cash inflow from operations was £183 million. That's 11% more than in H1 2024. WIP and other working capital movements of £163 million include the investment in new outlets and in H2 delivery that I referred to earlier. We spent £46 million on interest and tax and £25 million on capital expenditure, including on our new Space4 line. Before building safety remediation and investment into land, we had net cash of £204 million. We had net investment of £50 million into new land, and that's the net of land spend and land utilization in the period. We spent £31 million on our safety remediation program. I expect net cash at the year end to be between zero and £200 million, which is in line with previous guidance, depending of course on the speed of investment into new land. On the graphic, you can see cash inflow from operations was £183 million. on the graphic you can see cash inflow from operations was £183 million That's 11% more than in H1 2024. that's 11% more than in h1 2024 WIP and other working capital movements of £163 million include the investment in new outlets and in H2 delivery that I referred to earlier. wip and other working capital movements of £163 million include the investment in new outlets and in h2 delivery that i referred to earlier We spent £46 million on interest and tax and £25 million on capital expenditure, including on our new Space4 line. we spent £46 million on interest and tax and £25 million on capital expenditure including on our new space4 line Before building safety remediation and investment into land, we had net cash of £204 million. before building safety remediation and investment into land we had net cash of £204 million We had net investment of £50 million into new land, and that's the net of land spend and land utilization in the period. we had net investment of £50 million into new land and that's the net of land spend and land utilization in the period We spent £31 million on our safety remediation program. we spent £31 million on our safety remediation program I expect net cash at the year end to be between zero and £200 million, which is in line with previous guidance, depending of course on the speed of investment into new land. i expect net cash at the year end to be between zero and £200 million which is in line with previous guidance depending of course on the speed of investment into new land Before I get to land, I'll just cover two other capital allocation matters: the building safety remediation and our FibreNest disposal. Building safety provisions and the progress of remediation work is a very important topic, and we are making good progress as we expected to do, and that is the right thing to do for everyone involved. We're on site or completed at 77% of known developments or 80% of buildings, and there's no change to the total number of developments in the period. We've assessed all known developments, and we expect to be on site at all of these developments by the end of the year. That is well ahead of the overall industry position. You can see that there's 19 sites still to start, and of course there is some cost risk on these sites until they're completed, both cost inflation and scope changes. Before I get to land, I'll just cover two other capital allocation matters: the building safety remediation and our FibreNest disposal. before i get to land i'll just cover two other capital allocation matters the building safety remediation and our fibrenest disposal Building safety provisions and the progress of remediation work is a very important topic, and we are making good progress as we expected to do, and that is the right thing to do for everyone involved. building safety provisions and the progress of remediation work is a very important topic and we are making good progress as we expected to do and that is the right thing to do for everyone involved We're on site or completed at 77% of known developments or 80% of buildings, and there's no change to the total number of developments in the period. we're on site or completed at 77% of known developments or 80% of buildings and there's no change to the total number of developments in the period We've assessed all known developments, and we expect to be on site at all of these developments by the end of the year. we've assessed all known developments and we expect to be on site at all of these developments by the end of the year That is well ahead of the overall industry position. that is well ahead of the overall industry position You can see that there's 19 sites still to start, and of course there is some cost risk on these sites until they're completed, both cost inflation and scope changes. you can see that there's 19 sites still to start and of course there is some cost risk on these sites until they're completed both cost inflation and scope changes That's another reason that we've been pushing on to complete our work. So far this year, we've spent £31 million, and that brings our total spend to date to around £150 million, and we'll spend close to £100 million across the whole of 2025. The provision at 30 June was £208 million, with the reduction being the £31 million spent offset by some imputed interest. The bulk of the remaining spend will be made over the next 18-24 months, with a tail of spend beyond then. Importantly, completing this work quickly will create capital allocation opportunities for us. In May, we announced an agreement to dispose of FibreNest, which was a non-core operation for us, and I'm pleased to say that this sale completed last week, so congratulations to everybody involved. That's another reason that we've been pushing on to complete our work. that's another reason that we've been pushing on to complete our work So far this year, we've spent £31 million, and that brings our total spend to date to around £150 million, and we'll spend close to £100 million across the whole of 2025. so far this year we've spent £31 million and that brings our total spend to date to around £150 million and we'll spend close to £100 million across the whole of 2025 The provision at 30 June was £208 million, with the reduction being the £31 million spent offset by some imputed interest. the provision at 30 june was £208 million with the reduction being the £31 million spent offset by some imputed interest The bulk of the remaining spend will be made over the next 18- 24 months, with a tail of spend beyond then. the bulk of the remaining spend will be made over the next 18- 24 months with a tail of spend beyond then Importantly, completing this work quickly will create capital allocation opportunities for us. importantly completing this work quickly will create capital allocation opportunities for us In May, we announced an agreement to dispose of Fibre Nest, which was a non-core operation for us, and I'm pleased to say that this sale completed last week, so congratulations to everybody involved. in may we announced an agreement to dispose of fibre nest which was a non-core operation for us and i'm pleased to say that this sale completed last week so congratulations to everybody involved This will provide our customers with a larger choice of internet service providers, and it will free up significant cash for redeployment into our business, both the consideration received and the annual saving on capital expenditure. We'll reinvest this money into the growth of the business, including new land opportunities, and in doing so, we'll create better returns than would have been generated through the FibreNest business. I'll move on to land. Our disciplined investment into land has allowed us to grow our outlet base again this year and to grow our business. Dean will cover this in more detail in a moment, so I'll just draw out some key metrics. Total plots owned and under control, 82,500, is up 420 since the start of the year, and owned plots with planning are 7% higher than this time last year. This will provide our customers with a larger choice of internet service providers, and it will free up significant cash for redeployment into our business, both the consideration received and the annual saving on capital expenditure. this will provide our customers with a larger choice of internet service providers and it will free up significant cash for redeployment into our business both the consideration received and the annual saving on capital expenditure We'll reinvest this money into the growth of the business, including new land opportunities, and in doing so, we'll create better returns than would have been generated through the FibreNest business. we'll reinvest this money into the growth of the business including new land opportunities and in doing so we'll create better returns than would have been generated through the fibrenest business I'll move on to land. i'll move on to land Our disciplined investment into land has allowed us to grow our outlet base again this year and to grow our business. our disciplined investment into land has allowed us to grow our outlet base again this year and to grow our business Dean will cover this in more detail in a moment, so I'll just draw out some key metrics. dean will cover this in more detail in a moment so i'll just draw out some key metrics Total plots owned and under control, 82,500, is up 420 since the start of the year, and owned plots with planning are 7% higher than this time last year. total plots owned and under control 82,500 is up 420 since the start of the year and owned plots with planning are 7% higher than this time last year The land bank continues to be well proportioned across the country, as you can see, and this provides confidence that we'll achieve our ambition of growing to at least 300 outlets. The cost to assumed revenue in the land bank is about 12%, a very good indicator of future margin potential. These land holdings are high quality. Building on the point from the previous slide, you can see that land cost to assumed revenue has remained very stable over the last few years, and that's really pleasing. The average embedded site margin within our owned land holdings is still around 29%, and within this, nearly 80% of plots will deliver a site margin in excess of 25%. The land bank continues to be well proportioned across the country, as you can see, and this provides confidence that we'll achieve our ambition of growing to at least 300 outlets. the land bank continues to be well proportioned across the country as you can see and this provides confidence that we'll achieve our ambition of growing to at least 300 outlets The cost to assumed revenue in the land bank is about 12%, a very good indicator of future margin potential. the cost to assumed revenue in the land bank is about 12% a very good indicator of future margin potential These land holdings are high quality. these land holdings are high quality Building on the point from the previous slide, you can see that land cost to assumed revenue has remained very stable over the last few years, and that's really pleasing. building on the point from the previous slide you can see that land cost to assumed revenue has remained very stable over the last few years and that's really pleasing The average embedded site margin within our owned land holdings is still around 29%, and within this, nearly 80% of plots will deliver a site margin in excess of 25%. the average embedded site margin within our owned land holdings is still around 29% and within this nearly 80% of plots will deliver a site margin in excess of 25% This is site margin, so there are some other costs within statutory gross margins, such as maintenance spend and some of the fixed selling and construction cost space, but the important thing is this is shown on a consistent basis to previous years, and taken together provides the confidence that we've got the land in place for our growth ambitions. The structure of our capital allocation policy is unchanged, and it's proving successful. We're maintaining a strong balance sheet whilst prioritizing dealing with our building safety remediation through this year and next. We're continuing to invest in the business to deliver our growth objectives, and this has allowed us to return to growth ahead of the sector. We're paying a sustainable dividend well covered by profits, and today we've declared an interim dividend at £0.20 in line with last year. This is site margin, so there are some other costs within statutory gross margins, such as maintenance spend and some of the fixed selling and construction cost space, but the important thing is this is shown on a consistent basis to previous years, and taken together provides the confidence that we've got the land in place for our growth ambitions. this is site margin so there are some other costs within statutory gross margins such as maintenance spend and some of the fixed selling and construction cost space but the important thing is this is shown on a consistent basis to previous years and taken together provides the confidence that we've got the land in place for our growth ambitions The structure of our capital allocation policy is unchanged, and it's proving successful. the structure of our capital allocation policy is unchanged and it's proving successful We're maintaining a strong balance sheet whilst prioritizing dealing with our building safety remediation through this year and next. we're maintaining a strong balance sheet whilst prioritizing dealing with our building safety remediation through this year and next We're continuing to invest in the business to deliver our growth objectives, and this has allowed us to return to growth ahead of the sector. we're continuing to invest in the business to deliver our growth objectives and this has allowed us to return to growth ahead of the sector We're paying a sustainable dividend well covered by profits, and today we've declared an interim dividend at £0.20 in line with last year. we're paying a sustainable dividend well covered by profits and today we've declared an interim dividend at £0.20 in line with last year We'll look to review this policy again as we deliver our growth plans and as we progress through our fire remediation works. To summarize, these are very good first half-year results that are showing good growth. Assuming that conditions remain stable, we're on track to deliver growth in 2025 to a volume of 11,000-11,500 as previously guided. I said in March that our medium-term margin growth wouldn't be straight line, it would be back-ended, and that's still the case. This year I expect some margin growth on the 14.1% that we achieved last year, which is probably near the lower end of the range shown depending on market conditions in the next few months, but I'm comfortable with where 2025 consensus, operating profit, and PBT are currently. We'll look to review this policy again as we deliver our growth plans and as we progress through our fire remediation works. we'll look to review this policy again as we deliver our growth plans and as we progress through our fire remediation works To summarize, these are very good first half-year results that are showing good growth. to summarize these are very good first half-year results that are showing good growth Assuming that conditions remain stable, we're on track to deliver growth in 2025 to a volume of 11,000- 11,500 as previously guided. assuming that conditions remain stable we're on track to deliver growth in 2025 to a volume of 11,000- 11,500 as previously guided I said in March that our medium-term margin growth wouldn't be straight line, it would be back-ended, and that's still the case. i said in march that our medium-term margin growth wouldn't be straight line it would be back-ended and that's still the case This year I expect some margin growth on the 14.1% that we achieved last year, which is probably near the lower end of the range shown depending on market conditions in the next few months, but I'm comfortable with where 2025 consensus, operating profit, and PBT are currently. this year i expect some margin growth on the 14.1% that we achieved last year which is probably near the lower end of the range shown depending on market conditions in the next few months but i'm comfortable with where 2025 consensus operating profit and pbt are currently 2025 will be our second year of growth since the downturn, and although not expecting any significant improvement in market conditions, we're looking to grow again into 2026, and this shows the strength of our operating model and our ability to address the challenges in the market. Looking to 2026, the pace of margin growth will be impacted by various factors, including embedded inflation and customer affordability, and none of these points will be new to you. Embedded inflation is still an important feature. As you would expect, over half of our delivery in 2026 will be on site acquired before inflation normalized, and of course, average build costs were up 30% in that period. We now have relatively normal inflation, but on a higher total cost base, and that will restrict margin progression before the effect of embedded inflation begins to diminish. 2025 will be our second year of growth since the downturn, and although not expecting any significant improvement in market conditions, we're looking to grow again into 2026, and this shows the strength of our operating model and our ability to address the challenges in the market. 2025 will be our second year of growth since the downturn and although not expecting any significant improvement in market conditions we're looking to grow again into 2026 and this shows the strength of our operating model and our ability to address the challenges in the market Looking to 2026, the pace of margin growth will be impacted by various factors, including embedded inflation and customer affordability, and none of these points will be new to you. looking to 2026 the pace of margin growth will be impacted by various factors including embedded inflation and customer affordability and none of these points will be new to you Embedded inflation is still an important feature. embedded inflation is still an important feature As you would expect, over half of our delivery in 2026 will be on site acquired before inflation normalized, and of course, average build costs were up 30% in that period. as you would expect over half of our delivery in 2026 will be on site acquired before inflation normalized and of course average build costs were up 30% in that period We now have relatively normal inflation, but on a higher total cost base, and that will restrict margin progression before the effect of embedded inflation begins to diminish. we now have relatively normal inflation but on a higher total cost base and that will restrict margin progression before the effect of embedded inflation begins to diminish On sales, there's likely to be some uncertainty ahead of the budgets, which could affect consumer confidence during our autumn selling season and could also affect build-to-rent sales for next year. Real income increases are uncertain with persistent affordability challenges, and this makes driving further ASP growth more difficult. The costs of doing business are increasing across the industry. For example, regulatory costs, dealing with nutrient neutrality, the cost of discharging planning conditions in order to open new outlets, and so on. These are all points I know you're well aware of, but taken together, it means I expect the margin progression in 2026 will be perhaps 50 bps lower than the current consensus, although that's probably about £15 million before interest costs. On sales, there's likely to be some uncertainty ahead of the budgets, which could affect consumer confidence during our autumn selling season and could also affect build-to-rent sales for next year. on sales there's likely to be some uncertainty ahead of the budgets which could affect consumer confidence during our autumn selling season and could also affect build-to-rent sales for next year Real income increases are uncertain with persistent affordability challenges, and this makes driving further ASP growth more difficult. real income increases are uncertain with persistent affordability challenges and this makes driving further asp growth more difficult The costs of doing business are increasing across the industry. the costs of doing business are increasing across the industry For example, regulatory costs, dealing with nutrient neutrality, the cost of discharging planning conditions in order to open new outlets, and so on. for example regulatory costs dealing with nutrient neutrality the cost of discharging planning conditions in order to open new outlets and so on These are all points I know you're well aware of, but taken together, it means I expect the margin progression in 2026 will be perhaps 50 bps lower than the current consensus, although that's probably about £15 million before interest costs. these are all points i know you're well aware of but taken together it means i expect the margin progression in 2026 will be perhaps 50 bps lower than the current consensus although that's probably about £15 million before interest costs As an early indication, building on our growth in 2024 and growth in 2025, I expect further volume growth to around 12,000 units in 2026 and further margin progression at a similar rate to this year, which will bring us within the lower end of the range of current estimates for 2026. You can work out that will mean further mid-single-digit percentage profit growth again next year, and that will make 2026 our third successive year of profitable growth. With that, I'll hand back to Dean. As an early indication, building on our growth in 2024 and growth in 2025, I expect further volume growth to around 12,000 units in 2026 and further margin progression at a similar rate to this year, which will bring us within the lower end of the range of current estimates for 2026. as an early indication building on our growth in 2024 and growth in 2025 i expect further volume growth to around 12,000 units in 2026 and further margin progression at a similar rate to this year which will bring us within the lower end of the range of current estimates for 2026 You can work out that will mean further mid-single-digit percentage profit growth again next year, and that will make 2026 our third successive year of profitable growth. you can work out that will mean further mid-single-digit percentage profit growth again next year and that will make 2026 our third successive year of profitable growth With that, I'll hand back to Dean. with that i'll hand back to dean

Speaker 4: Thank you, Andrew. I said in March that I was pleased we achieved a rapid return to growth in 2024, and I'm very pleased that we're sustaining that in 2025. Our strategy to focus on self-help is securing results. On all of our five enablers, we've made real progress, and they continue to support Persimmon's growth. I'll now describe this in more detail. Our investment in land, coupled with industry-leading planning success, is driving outlet growth. We've also strengthened our strategic land bank. With private sales in all three brands growing, our diversification is selling more homes. Our sustained reputational improvement is seen on our HBF and Trustpilot scores, and that reputational rise is improving inquiries, sales, and partner relationships. Our state-of-the-art Space4 line and brick and tile factories are delivering more products. Automation and digitalization are securing further operational and cost efficiencies. Thank you, Andrew. thank you andrew I said in March that I was pleased we achieved a rapid return to growth in 2024, and I'm very pleased that we're sustaining that in 2025. i said in march that i was pleased we achieved a rapid return to growth in 2024 and i'm very pleased that we're sustaining that in 2025 Our strategy to focus on self-help is securing results. our strategy to focus on self-help is securing results On all of our five enablers, we've made real progress, and they continue to support Persimmon's growth. on all of our five enablers we've made real progress and they continue to support persimmon's growth I'll now describe this in more detail. i'll now describe this in more detail Our investment in land, coupled with industry-leading planning success, is driving outlet growth. our investment in land coupled with industry-leading planning success is driving outlet growth We've also strengthened our strategic land bank. we've also strengthened our strategic land bank With private sales in all three brands growing, our diversification is selling more homes. with private sales in all three brands growing our diversification is selling more homes Our sustained reputational improvement is seen on our HBF and Trustpilot scores, and that reputational rise is improving inquiries, sales, and partner relationships. our sustained reputational improvement is seen on our hbf and trustpilot scores and that reputational rise is improving inquiries sales and partner relationships Our state-of-the-art Space4 line and brick and tile factories are delivering more products. our state-of-the-art space4 line and brick and tile factories are delivering more products Automation and digitalization are securing further operational and cost efficiencies. automation and digitalization are securing further operational and cost efficiencies Unsurprisingly, we're resolute in maintaining a strong balance sheet. As Andrew said, we expect our progress on building safety to provide capital allocation opportunities from 2027. As I said earlier, we're delivering growth despite a challenging market. I'll now say more on how and why. We've continued to invest in our land bank. We added more plots and completions. Our owned plots with detailed planning increased by 7%, and we're outperforming the industry on planning because we do it differently. We treat an application like a political campaign. We engage early and understand local priorities. Ultimately, we aim to provide the local politicians a reason to say yes to our plans. Too often, planning applications rely on telling politicians why they can't say no. As the graph shows, we're outperforming our peers. The industry-wide data looks similar. Unsurprisingly, we're resolute in maintaining a strong balance sheet. unsurprisingly we're resolute in maintaining a strong balance sheet As Andrew said, we expect our progress on building safety to provide capital allocation opportunities from 2027. as andrew said we expect our progress on building safety to provide capital allocation opportunities from 2027 As I said earlier, we're delivering growth despite a challenging market. as i said earlier we're delivering growth despite a challenging market I'll now say more on how and why. i'll now say more on how and why We've continued to invest in our land bank. we've continued to invest in our land bank We added more plots and completions. we added more plots and completions Our owned plots with detailed planning increased by 7%, and we're outperforming the industry on planning because we do it differently. our owned plots with detailed planning increased by 7% and we're outperforming the industry on planning because we do it differently We treat an application like a political campaign. we treat an application like a political campaign We engage early and understand local priorities. we engage early and understand local priorities Ultimately, we aim to provide the local politicians a reason to say yes to our plans. ultimately we aim to provide the local politicians a reason to say yes to our plans Too often, planning applications rely on telling politicians why they can't say no. too often planning applications rely on telling politicians why they can't say no As the graph shows, we're outperforming our peers. as the graph shows we're outperforming our peers The industry-wide data looks similar. the industry-wide data looks similar A 22% increase in full or reserve matter applications over the last 12 months compares to a 3% decline in the industry. Our investment in land, combined with our planning success, means we have more outlets and have good momentum. I think that's reflected by our 4% growth in outlets compared to a 3% decline in the industry. We're confident there's more to come. The government's planning reforms are presenting opportunities for acceleration of applications. We've now identified 50 potential sites in our land bank, up from 38 in March. Thirty one of these are already proceeding with an application. We have a good pipeline of outlet openings this year and remain on track to deliver 300 outlets within 18 months. That's a good platform for future growth. If I turn now to our strategic land bank, you'll see how we're strengthening it further. A 22% increase in full or reserve matter applications over the last 12 months compares to a 3% decline in the industry. a 22% increase in full or reserve matter applications over the last 12 months compares to a 3% decline in the industry Our investment in land, combined with our planning success, means we have more outlets and have good momentum. our investment in land combined with our planning success means we have more outlets and have good momentum I think that's reflected by our 4% growth in outlets compared to a 3% decline in the industry. i think that's reflected by our 4% growth in outlets compared to a 3% decline in the industry We're confident there's more to come. we're confident there's more to come The government's planning reforms are presenting opportunities for acceleration of applications. the government's planning reforms are presenting opportunities for acceleration of applications We've now identified 50 potential sites in our land bank, up from 38 in March. we've now identified 50 potential sites in our land bank up from 38 in march Thirty one of these are already proceeding with an application. thirty one of these are already proceeding with an application We have a good pipeline of outlet openings this year and remain on track to deliver 300 outlets within 18 months. we have a good pipeline of outlet openings this year and remain on track to deliver 300 outlets within 18 months That's a good platform for future growth. that's a good platform for future growth If I turn now to our strategic land bank, you'll see how we're strengthening it further. if i turn now to our strategic land bank you'll see how we're strengthening it further Persimmon's high-quality strategic land bank is a real source of strength. That's reflected by the fact that 41% of completions in the first half came from strategic land. Building on that, we've been investing in our teams to grow our strategic land bank yet further. Adding over 6,000 plots in the first half means our strategic land bank is now 8% larger this year. Plus, it's really well spread geographically, as the pie chart shows. That larger land bank supports our three-brand strategy as examples, such as Cheltenham Show. It's a great piece of land that I've referred to before. We bought it after many, many years of delay ahead of last November's budget. Since I mentioned this last time, we've secured outline planning on over 1,000 plots. That's a great site for many years to come. Persimmon's high-quality strategic land bank is a real source of strength. persimmon's high-quality strategic land bank is a real source of strength That's reflected by the fact that 41% of completions in the first half came from strategic land. that's reflected by the fact that 41% of completions in the first half came from strategic land Building on that, we've been investing in our teams to grow our strategic land bank yet further. building on that we've been investing in our teams to grow our strategic land bank yet further Adding over 6,000 plots in the first half means our strategic land bank is now 8% larger this year. adding over 6,000 plots in the first half means our strategic land bank is now 8% larger this year Plus, it's really well spread geographically, as the pie chart shows. plus it's really well spread geographically as the pie chart shows That larger land bank supports our three-brand strategy as examples, such as Cheltenham Show. that larger land bank supports our three-brand strategy as examples such as cheltenham show It's a great piece of land that I've referred to before. it's a great piece of land that i've referred to before We bought it after many, many years of delay ahead of last November's budget. we bought it after many many years of delay ahead of last november's budget Since I mentioned this last time, we've secured outline planning on over 1,000 plots. since i mentioned this last time we've secured outline planning on over 1,000 plots That's a great site for many years to come. that's a great site for many years to come With margins typically 300-500 basis points higher than open market land, our strategic land bank is really adding excellent opportunities to our growth platform. It's not just about great land bank. Our improved reputation means we're better able to capitalize on it. We've sustained our progress on build quality and customer service. We retained our HBF five-star for the fourth consecutive year. As the graph shows, our consistent progress on Persimmon and Charles Church Trustpilot scores means both are rated excellent. Our NHBC CQR score has improved further this year, and this is being noticed. Customer trust in our brand is up 17% since December 2022. More BTR partners are working with us. We've grown our affordable forward order book despite the well-publicized challenges in the sector. The combination of more outlets, an active and expanding pipeline of opportunities, and an enhanced reputation is driving growth. With margins typically 300- 500 basis points higher than open market land, our strategic land bank is really adding excellent opportunities to our growth platform. with margins typically 300- 500 basis points higher than open market land our strategic land bank is really adding excellent opportunities to our growth platform It's not just about great land bank. it's not just about great land bank Our improved reputation means we're better able to capitalize on it. our improved reputation means we're better able to capitalize on it We've sustained our progress on build quality and customer service. we've sustained our progress on build quality and customer service We retained our HBF five-star for the fourth consecutive year. we retained our hbf five-star for the fourth consecutive year As the graph shows, our consistent progress on Persimmon and Charles Church Trustpilot scores means both are rated excellent. as the graph shows our consistent progress on persimmon and charles church trustpilot scores means both are rated excellent Our NHBC CQR score has improved further this year, and this is being noticed. our nhbc cqr score has improved further this year and this is being noticed Customer trust in our brand is up 17% since December 2022. customer trust in our brand is up 17% since december 2022 More BTR partners are working with us. more btr partners are working with us We've grown our affordable forward order book despite the well-publicized challenges in the sector. we've grown our affordable forward order book despite the well-publicized challenges in the sector The combination of more outlets, an active and expanding pipeline of opportunities, and an enhanced reputation is driving growth. the combination of more outlets an active and expanding pipeline of opportunities and an enhanced reputation is driving growth It provides a platform for continued growth into the future, supported by our onsite mantra of "Build right, first time, every time." Our continued investment in sales and marketing has helped us convert the opportunities in our markets. More potential customers now consider buying from us, up 26% since December 2022. We've been innovative to make it easier for our customers to buy our homes. For example, our exclusive partnership with Generation Home is the first shared equity product since Help to Buy. As well as securing additional sales, it's also bringing customers to our sites. So far this year, our website visitors are up 20% and website inquiries are up 12%. As you can see from the graph, recent weeks have seen a further uptick. I'd emphasize that the strong growth has also been across the country. As the graphs show, we've shown consistent growth in recent years. It provides a platform for continued growth into the future, supported by our onsite mantra of "Build right, first time, every time." Our continued investment in sales and marketing has helped us convert the opportunities in our markets. it provides a platform for continued growth into the future supported by our onsite mantra of "build right first time every time." our continued investment in sales and marketing has helped us convert the opportunities in our markets More potential customers now consider buying from us, up 26% since December 2022. more potential customers now consider buying from us up 26% since december 2022 We've been innovative to make it easier for our customers to buy our homes. we've been innovative to make it easier for our customers to buy our homes For example, our exclusive partnership with Generation Home is the first shared equity product since Help to Buy. for example our exclusive partnership with generation home is the first shared equity product since help to buy As well as securing additional sales, it's also bringing customers to our sites. as well as securing additional sales it's also bringing customers to our sites So far this year, our website visitors are up 20% and website inquiries are up 12%. so far this year our website visitors are up 20% and website inquiries are up 12% As you can see from the graph, recent weeks have seen a further uptick. as you can see from the graph recent weeks have seen a further uptick I'd emphasize that the strong growth has also been across the country. i'd emphasize that the strong growth has also been across the country As the graphs show, we've shown consistent growth in recent years. as the graphs show we've shown consistent growth in recent years We're investing in our teams. Our mystery shopping scores have shown a notable 7% improvement, helping drive performance and sales conversions. As a result, we've grown our market share in the first half of the year. A new customer website and a marketing platform to accelerate this progress are in development. Our improved reputation and investment in enhanced sales and marketing with new programs means there is undoubtedly more opportunity to come. If I turn to our brands, I'm really pleased with our brand diversity, and we've grown private completions in all three of them. The next slide shows the breadth of progress we've made and the size of the opportunity we have. All three brands are well placed as good value products in their respective markets. Persimmon's traditional strength, of course, has been price, but we're now also great value. We're investing in our teams. we're investing in our teams Our mystery shopping scores have shown a notable 7% improvement, helping drive performance and sales conversions. our mystery shopping scores have shown a notable 7% improvement helping drive performance and sales conversions As a result, we've grown our market share in the first half of the year. as a result we've grown our market share in the first half of the year A new customer website and a marketing platform to accelerate this progress are in development. a new customer website and a marketing platform to accelerate this progress are in development Our improved reputation and investment in enhanced sales and marketing with new programs means there is undoubtedly more opportunity to come. our improved reputation and investment in enhanced sales and marketing with new programs means there is undoubtedly more opportunity to come If I turn to our brands, I'm really pleased with our brand diversity, and we've grown private completions in all three of them. if i turn to our brands i'm really pleased with our brand diversity and we've grown private completions in all three of them The next slide shows the breadth of progress we've made and the size of the opportunity we have. the next slide shows the breadth of progress we've made and the size of the opportunity we have All three brands are well placed as good value products in their respective markets. all three brands are well placed as good value products in their respective markets Persimmon's traditional strength, of course, has been price, but we're now also great value. persimmon's traditional strength of course has been price but we're now also great value Our quality and service improvements mean we build homes our customers can trust at a price they can afford. Indeed, as I tour our sites, I'm struck by how good they now look in comparison to their major competitor, the local second-hand market. With our growing outlets and stronger sales and marketing, core Persimmon has a real opportunity for further growth in the years to come. Turning now to Charles Church, I'm excited by the difference we're already seeing. We've relaunched the brand earlier this year, and we're investing in our teams to drive its growth. Of the 53 Charles Church sites we now operate from, 35 are dual branded. This demonstrates the opportunity to drive returns through a diverse market offering. We think there's a real opportunity now to grow Charles Church across the country, and we've identified many local markets where this affordable premium product is highly attractive. Our quality and service improvements mean we build homes our customers can trust at a price they can afford. our quality and service improvements mean we build homes our customers can trust at a price they can afford Indeed, as I tour our sites, I'm struck by how good they now look in comparison to their major competitor, the local second-hand market. indeed as i tour our sites i'm struck by how good they now look in comparison to their major competitor the local second-hand market With our growing outlets and stronger sales and marketing, core Persimmon has a real opportunity for further growth in the years to come. with our growing outlets and stronger sales and marketing core persimmon has a real opportunity for further growth in the years to come Turning now to Charles Church, I'm excited by the difference we're already seeing. turning now to charles church i'm excited by the difference we're already seeing We've relaunched the brand earlier this year, and we're investing in our teams to drive its growth. we've relaunched the brand earlier this year and we're investing in our teams to drive its growth Of the 53 Charles Church sites we now operate from, 35 are dual branded. of the 53 charles church sites we now operate from 35 are dual branded This demonstrates the opportunity to drive returns through a diverse market offering. this demonstrates the opportunity to drive returns through a diverse market offering We think there's a real opportunity now to grow Charles Church across the country, and we've identified many local markets where this affordable premium product is highly attractive. we think there's a real opportunity now to grow charles church across the country and we've identified many local markets where this affordable premium product is highly attractive Our ambition remains to double Charles Church's output. A 20% increase in completions and a 30% increase in revenue in the first half, I think, is a good start. Turning now to Westbury, we've also improved our reputation with our BTR and affordable partners. Build-to-rent is a growing feature of the market. Recent Savills data shows investment grew in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024. We delivered 13% more completions in the first half compared to last year. We're securing targeted deals, employing clear discipline to improve returns. We're working with more partners and are targeting further growth. Turning to our affordable housing, we've already managed to fully secure our order book for the year. While challenges persist for RP financing, we'll build on our improved reputation to strengthen our relationship in the years to come. Our ambition remains to double Charles Church's output. our ambition remains to double charles church's output A 20% increase in completions and a 30% increase in revenue in the first half, I think, is a good start. a 20% increase in completions and a 30% increase in revenue in the first half i think is a good start Turning now to Westbury, we've also improved our reputation with our BTR and affordable partners. turning now to westbury we've also improved our reputation with our btr and affordable partners Build-to-rent is a growing feature of the market. build-to-rent is a growing feature of the market Recent Savills data shows investment grew in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024. recent savills data shows investment grew in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024 We delivered 13% more completions in the first half compared to last year. we delivered 13% more completions in the first half compared to last year We're securing targeted deals, employing clear discipline to improve returns. we're securing targeted deals employing clear discipline to improve returns We're working with more partners and are targeting further growth. we're working with more partners and are targeting further growth Turning to our affordable housing, we've already managed to fully secure our order book for the year. turning to our affordable housing we've already managed to fully secure our order book for the year While challenges persist for RP financing, we'll build on our improved reputation to strengthen our relationship in the years to come. while challenges persist for rp financing we'll build on our improved reputation to strengthen our relationship in the years to come These three stronger brands with better reputations should provide more resilience and underpin growth into the future. I believe this growth will only be supported and secured with more offsite manufacture, innovation, and vertical integration. It's to our factories where we've significantly invested that I'll now turn. Our factories are already supporting our growth by contributing more of their high-quality, cost-efficient products to our business. I think they're essential to our future growth. That's why we're investing so they'll contribute even more. A state-of-the-art automated line is now operational at our timber frame factory. You can see the photos on the slide. We've also expanded our product range to include roof trusses. This investment is providing a broader range of industry-leading quality products, consistently and cost-efficiently. All regions have plans to use the product, with seven new regions starting this year. These three stronger brands with better reputations should provide more resilience and underpin growth into the future. these three stronger brands with better reputations should provide more resilience and underpin growth into the future I believe this growth will only be supported and secured with more offsite manufacture, innovation, and vertical integration. i believe this growth will only be supported and secured with more offsite manufacture innovation and vertical integration It's to our factories where we've significantly invested that I'll now turn. it's to our factories where we've significantly invested that i'll now turn Our factories are already supporting our growth by contributing more of their high-quality, cost-efficient products to our business. our factories are already supporting our growth by contributing more of their high-quality cost-efficient products to our business I think they're essential to our future growth. i think they're essential to our future growth That's why we're investing so they'll contribute even more. that's why we're investing so they'll contribute even more A state-of-the-art automated line is now operational at our timber frame factory. a state-of-the-art automated line is now operational at our timber frame factory You can see the photos on the slide. you can see the photos on the slide We've also expanded our product range to include roof trusses. we've also expanded our product range to include roof trusses This investment is providing a broader range of industry-leading quality products, consistently and cost-efficiently. this investment is providing a broader range of industry-leading quality products consistently and cost-efficiently All regions have plans to use the product, with seven new regions starting this year. all regions have plans to use the product with seven new regions starting this year Our second factory in Loughborough will help meet this growing demand and expand the products we can offer even further. We're starting an onsite trial of the Mauer brick facade, combined with our timber frame this month. I've spoken before about the significant benefits here, and we've identified additional sites to roll this out further. Our brick and tile use continues to grow. The brick factory is now operating 24/7, and we're also investing in an additional line next year to meet demand. In a similar vein, the tile factory is planning a third shift next year to meet its own growing demand. As well as getting more from our factories, our use of onsite digitalization is really driving cost efficiency. Granular management of materials is reducing lost stalling and damage costs, as well as daywork costs, with the results dropping straight to the bottom line. Our second factory in Loughborough will help meet this growing demand and expand the products we can offer even further. our second factory in loughborough will help meet this growing demand and expand the products we can offer even further We're starting an onsite trial of the Mauer brick facade, combined with our timber frame this month. we're starting an onsite trial of the mauer brick facade combined with our timber frame this month I've spoken before about the significant benefits here, and we've identified additional sites to roll this out further. i've spoken before about the significant benefits here and we've identified additional sites to roll this out further Our brick and tile use continues to grow. our brick and tile use continues to grow The brick factory is now operating 24/7, and we're also investing in an additional line next year to meet demand. the brick factory is now operating 24/7 and we're also investing in an additional line next year to meet demand In a similar vein, the tile factory is planning a third shift next year to meet its own growing demand. in a similar vein the tile factory is planning a third shift next year to meet its own growing demand As well as getting more from our factories, our use of onsite digitalization is really driving cost efficiency. as well as getting more from our factories our use of onsite digitalization is really driving cost efficiency Granular management of materials is reducing lost stalling and damage costs, as well as daywork costs, with the results dropping straight to the bottom line. granular management of materials is reducing lost stalling and damage costs as well as daywork costs with the results dropping straight to the bottom line My vision is that within a few years, for a large proportion of our houses, we'll be able to provide all the main components of the superstructure from our own factories: timber frame, roof truss, joist, brick or brick facade, and tile, all Persimmon manufactured. The output opportunities, as well as the cost efficiency benefits, are really exciting. If I turn to what's been a good start to the second half, I'm really pleased with our sales this year. Our current forward order book is at 9% on last year. Within this, our private forward order book is up 11% and affordable up 4%. In the last five weeks, our sales have been encouraging, with total sales up 3% and ex bulk sales up 17% year-on-year. Pricing is robust. Private ASPs in the forward order book are up 1% compared to a year ago. My vision is that within a few years, for a large proportion of our houses, we'll be able to provide all the main components of the superstructure from our own factories: timber frame, roof truss, joist, brick or brick facade, and tile, all Persimmon manufactured. my vision is that within a few years for a large proportion of our houses we'll be able to provide all the main components of the superstructure from our own factories timber frame roof truss joist brick or brick facade and tile all persimmon manufactured The output opportunities, as well as the cost efficiency benefits, are really exciting. the output opportunities as well as the cost efficiency benefits are really exciting If I turn to what's been a good start to the second half, I'm really pleased with our sales this year. if i turn to what's been a good start to the second half i'm really pleased with our sales this year Our current forward order book is at 9% on last year. our current forward order book is at 9% on last year Within this, our private forward order book is up 11% and affordable up 4%. within this our private forward order book is up 11% and affordable up 4% In the last five weeks, our sales have been encouraging, with total sales up 3% and ex bulk sales up 17% year-on-year. in the last five weeks our sales have been encouraging with total sales up 3% and ex bulk sales up 17% year-on-year Pricing is robust. pricing is robust Private ASPs in the forward order book are up 1% compared to a year ago. private asps in the forward order book are up 1% compared to a year ago In the last five weeks, ASP on private reservations are up 5%. We continue to remain disciplined with incentives currently around 4.5%. It's a good performance and gives us good visibility for the rest of the year. It's to that future that I'll now turn. Our strategy is delivering growth. It's done so in a market that continues to be constrained by affordability. I'm pleased to say that we're on track to deliver our guidance of 11,000-11,500 completions, reflecting a second year of strong outlet volume and profit growth. As we look ahead, we're not expecting a demand stimulus from the government or a significant improvement in affordability, other than through real terms, wage growth, and modest reductions to interest rates. Growth remains dependent on our own self-help measures. In the last five weeks, ASP on private reservations are up 5%. in the last five weeks asp on private reservations are up 5% We continue to remain disciplined with incentives currently around 4.5%. we continue to remain disciplined with incentives currently around 4.5% It's a good performance and gives us good visibility for the rest of the year. it's a good performance and gives us good visibility for the rest of the year It's to that future that I'll now turn. it's to that future that i'll now turn Our strategy is delivering growth. our strategy is delivering growth It's done so in a market that continues to be constrained by affordability. it's done so in a market that continues to be constrained by affordability I'm pleased to say that we're on track to deliver our guidance of 11,000- 11,500 completions, reflecting a second year of strong outlet volume and profit growth. i'm pleased to say that we're on track to deliver our guidance of 11,000- 11,500 completions reflecting a second year of strong outlet volume and profit growth As we look ahead, we're not expecting a demand stimulus from the government or a significant improvement in affordability, other than through real terms, wage growth, and modest reductions to interest rates. as we look ahead we're not expecting a demand stimulus from the government or a significant improvement in affordability other than through real terms wage growth and modest reductions to interest rates Growth remains dependent on our own self-help measures. growth remains dependent on our own self-help measures I've set out today that there's more investment and innovation to come to build on the success and progress we've already seen. An enhanced reputation, together with improving sales and marketing, are crucial to selling more of our attractively priced, good value homes. Our expanding factories and vertical integration are crucial to meeting demand in an efficient way. We're creating a growing platform with diversified brands selling more homes and then building them more efficiently. We expect to see further growth in 2026 as we keep opening outlets and increasing sales across all our brands, building volume, key drivers of growth in this market. As Andrew originally set out in March, the pace of margin improvement will be gradual, uneven, and back-end loaded. Historical build cost inflation is still working through our sites, albeit as we look ahead, it's a diminishing headwind. I've set out today that there's more investment and innovation to come to build on the success and progress we've already seen. i've set out today that there's more investment and innovation to come to build on the success and progress we've already seen An enhanced reputation, together with improving sales and marketing, are crucial to selling more of our attractively priced, good value homes. an enhanced reputation together with improving sales and marketing are crucial to selling more of our attractively priced good value homes Our expanding factories and vertical integration are crucial to meeting demand in an efficient way. our expanding factories and vertical integration are crucial to meeting demand in an efficient way We're creating a growing platform with diversified brands selling more homes and then building them more efficiently. we're creating a growing platform with diversified brands selling more homes and then building them more efficiently We expect to see further growth in 2026 as we keep opening outlets and increasing sales across all our brands, building volume, key drivers of growth in this market. we expect to see further growth in 2026 as we keep opening outlets and increasing sales across all our brands building volume key drivers of growth in this market As Andrew originally set out in March, the pace of margin improvement will be gradual, uneven, and back-end loaded. as andrew originally set out in march the pace of margin improvement will be gradual uneven and back-end loaded Historical build cost inflation is still working through our sites, albeit as we look ahead, it's a diminishing headwind. historical build cost inflation is still working through our sites albeit as we look ahead it's a diminishing headwind That, coupled with constrained affordability and the challenges and increasing costs of opening sites, including in particular between outline and reserve matters, means there'll be a drag on margins. Nevertheless, I'm confident we'll still grow volumes, profits, and margins next year. As we expect, we expect volumes to grow broadly in line with outlet openings, and we anticipate margins to grow at a similar pace to this year. Assuming a stable market, the combined effect of increasing volumes and margin expansion will produce robust, profitable growth in 2026. Looking beyond 2026, our ambitions remain to grow our operating margin and return on capital employed to 20%. With the bulk of our building safety works completed by the end of 2027, we'll have a flexibility to deploy the capital how we choose. That, coupled with constrained affordability and the challenges and increasing costs of opening sites, including in particular between outline and reserve matters, means there'll be a drag on margins. that coupled with constrained affordability and the challenges and increasing costs of opening sites including in particular between outline and reserve matters means there'll be a drag on margins Nevertheless, I'm confident we'll still grow volumes, profits, and margins next year. nevertheless i'm confident we'll still grow volumes profits and margins next year As we expect, we expect volumes to grow broadly in line with outlet openings, and we anticipate margins to grow at a similar pace to this year. as we expect we expect volumes to grow broadly in line with outlet openings and we anticipate margins to grow at a similar pace to this year Assuming a stable market, the combined effect of increasing volumes and margin expansion will produce robust, profitable growth in 2026. assuming a stable market the combined effect of increasing volumes and margin expansion will produce robust profitable growth in 2026 Looking beyond 2026, our ambitions remain to grow our operating margin and return on capital employed to 20%. looking beyond 2026 our ambitions remain to grow our operating margin and return on capital employed to 20% With the bulk of our building safety works completed by the end of 2027, we'll have a flexibility to deploy the capital how we choose. with the bulk of our building safety works completed by the end of 2027 we'll have a flexibility to deploy the capital how we choose As you saw on Andrew's slide, work has started or finished on over 80% of our buildings compared to the industry, which is at 48%. This is a real competitive advantage. As a result of the division decisions we've taken, we have a growing company with growing prospects and growing ambitions, and we're seeking to build a structural competitive advantage for the business. The business is in a really good place, and we're really looking forward to the growth to come. On that positive note, I'll take some questions. Front row? As you saw on Andrew's slide, work has started or finished on over 80% of our buildings compared to the industry, which is at 48%. as you saw on andrew's slide work has started or finished on over 80% of our buildings compared to the industry which is at 48% This is a real competitive advantage. this is a real competitive advantage As a result of the division decisions we've taken, we have a growing company with growing prospects and growing ambitions, and we're seeking to build a structural competitive advantage for the business. as a result of the division decisions we've taken we have a growing company with growing prospects and growing ambitions and we're seeking to build a structural competitive advantage for the business The business is in a really good place, and we're really looking forward to the growth to come. the business is in a really good place and we're really looking forward to the growth to come On that positive note, I'll take some questions. on that positive note i'll take some questions Front row? front row

Speaker 13: Thanks, Will Jones from Rothschild & Co Redburn. First, if you could help us just put some numbers around your price and build cost experience at the moment. I think you mentioned 5% on the private ASP second half to date. What would you estimate of that is organic and similar for build cost, please? The second was really just exploring the point around land mix. Quite active in the first half on new land buying. Do you think you're achieving margins akin to the embedded land bank you've currently got? When we think about the feed through of that, I think you've mentioned next year over 50% of the outlets with embedded build cost inflation. Is that a lower number than in 2025? Any thoughts on the pace of that reduction, I suppose, as you go beyond 2026? Thanks, Will Jones from Rothschild & Co Redburn. thanks will jones from rothschild & co redburn First, if you could help us just put some numbers around your price and build cost experience at the moment. first if you could help us just put some numbers around your price and build cost experience at the moment I think you mentioned 5% on the private ASP second half to date. i think you mentioned 5% on the private asp second half to date What would you estimate of that is organic and similar for build cost, please? what would you estimate of that is organic and similar for build cost please The second was really just exploring the point around land mix. the second was really just exploring the point around land mix Quite active in the first half on new land buying. quite active in the first half on new land buying Do you think you're achieving margins akin to the embedded land bank you've currently got? do you think you're achieving margins akin to the embedded land bank you've currently got When we think about the feed through of that, I think you've mentioned next year over 50% of the outlets with embedded build cost inflation. when we think about the feed through of that i think you've mentioned next year over 50% of the outlets with embedded build cost inflation Is that a lower number than in 2025? is that a lower number than in 2025 Any thoughts on the pace of that reduction, I suppose, as you go beyond 2026? any thoughts on the pace of that reduction i suppose as you go beyond 2026

Speaker 11: Can we say those? Okay, morning Will. Yeah, look, ASP, we are pushing that. I mean, clearly there's a whole raft of things in there with this, but the mix of product, Charles Church, and so on. As I said earlier, we're seeing opportunity to push on prices, particularly in the north and in Scotland, more than in the south. Affordability is just a more acute challenge in the south. We don't forecast a kind of ASP inflation or ASP growth, but you can see in the order book that the ASP has continued to be robust, which is encouraging. Build cost inflation in the current year is where we said it would be. We said it would be low single digits, and that's really, really still what we're seeing. Jumping to your third question, just whilst we're on inflation. Of course that will diminish, but it diminishes over time. Can we say those? can we say those Okay, morning Will. okay morning will Yeah, look, ASP, we are pushing that. yeah look asp we are pushing that I mean, clearly there's a whole raft of things in there with this, but the mix of product, Charles Church, and so on. i mean clearly there's a whole raft of things in there with this but the mix of product charles church and so on As I said earlier, we're seeing opportunity to push on prices, particularly in the north and in Scotland, more than in the south. as i said earlier we're seeing opportunity to push on prices particularly in the north and in scotland more than in the south Affordability is just a more acute challenge in the south. affordability is just a more acute challenge in the south We don't forecast a kind of ASP inflation or ASP growth, but you can see in the order book that the ASP has continued to be robust, which is encouraging. we don't forecast a kind of asp inflation or asp growth but you can see in the order book that the asp has continued to be robust which is encouraging Build cost inflation in the current year is where we said it would be. build cost inflation in the current year is where we said it would be We said it would be low single digits, and that's really, really still what we're seeing. we said it would be low single digits and that's really really still what we're seeing Jumping to your third question, just whilst we're on inflation. jumping to your third question just whilst we're on inflation Of course that will diminish, but it diminishes over time. of course that will diminish but it diminishes over time As we get through into 2027, 2028, that will continue to diminish as a feature. What you have to remember, and the reason, I'm kind of telling you what you all know, but it's just useful to sort of articulate it out loud, I suppose. When you buy a large site, or you might buy a site on outline with detailed planning for phase one, then phase two and phase three will come through in due course. That's why when you see inflation a couple of years ago, it does take time for that to wind its way through the system. It's just a kind of mathematical factor of that. That will reduce beyond 2026, and it will gradually taper off. Land buying, I think the key thing is there are a lot of opportunities. As we get through into 2027, 2028, that will continue to diminish as a feature. as we get through into 2027 2028 that will continue to diminish as a feature What you have to remember, and the reason, I'm kind of telling you what you all know, but it's just useful to sort of articulate it out loud, I suppose. what you have to remember and the reason i'm kind of telling you what you all know but it's just useful to sort of articulate it out loud i suppose When you buy a large site, or you might buy a site on outline with detailed planning for phase one, then phase two and phase three will come through in due course. when you buy a large site or you might buy a site on outline with detailed planning for phase one then phase two and phase three will come through in due course That's why when you see inflation a couple of years ago, it does take time for that to wind its way through the system. that's why when you see inflation a couple of years ago it does take time for that to wind its way through the system It's just a kind of mathematical factor of that. it's just a kind of mathematical factor of that That will reduce beyond 2026, and it will gradually taper off. that will reduce beyond 2026 and it will gradually taper off Land buying, I think the key thing is there are a lot of opportunities. land buying i think the key thing is there are a lot of opportunities There's lots of opportunities to buy land, lots of opportunities to buy land at the right hurdle rates with the right cash profiles. There is a lot of opportunity that we're seeing, and it comes across our desk. We are making sure that we're trying to buy the right sites for the future. Absolutely, pleased with what we've been able to do in the land market. There's lots of opportunities to buy land, lots of opportunities to buy land at the right hurdle rates with the right cash profiles. there's lots of opportunities to buy land lots of opportunities to buy land at the right hurdle rates with the right cash profiles There is a lot of opportunity that we're seeing, and it comes across our desk. there is a lot of opportunity that we're seeing and it comes across our desk We are making sure that we're trying to buy the right sites for the future. we are making sure that we're trying to buy the right sites for the future Absolutely, pleased with what we've been able to do in the land market. absolutely pleased with what we've been able to do in the land market

Speaker 3: Thanks. Aynsley Lammin from Investec, two questions, please. I'm interested in a bit more color on recent trading kind of into the second half. It doesn't seem to be as incrementally negative as maybe some others have said. Just what you're seeing there, you know, pricing, sales rates. Second question, I guess on the FY 2026 outlook, it seems quite early to be speaking about FY 2026. Is that just a reflection? You just stated the facts of what you see in the land bank and, you know, the cost embedded there, as you said. When you look at the macro outlook and the U.K. backdrop, are you just incrementally less hopeful of any HPI coming through? What's driving the timing of that comment for today? Thanks. Thanks. Aynsley Lammin from Investec, two questions, please. thanks. aynsley lammin from investec two questions please I'm interested in a bit more color on recent trading kind of into the second half. i'm interested in a bit more color on recent trading kind of into the second half It doesn't seem to be as incrementally negative as maybe some others have said. it doesn't seem to be as incrementally negative as maybe some others have said Just what you're seeing there, you know, pricing, sales rates. just what you're seeing there you know pricing sales rates Second question, I guess on the FY 2026 outlook, it seems quite early to be speaking about FY 2026. second question i guess on the fy 2026 outlook it seems quite early to be speaking about fy 2026 Is that just a reflection? is that just a reflection You just stated the facts of what you see in the land bank and, you know, the cost embedded there, as you said. you just stated the facts of what you see in the land bank and you know the cost embedded there as you said When you look at the macro outlook and the U.K. backdrop, are you just incrementally less hopeful of any HPI coming through? when you look at the macro outlook and the u.k backdrop are you just incrementally less hopeful of any hpi coming through What's driving the timing of that comment for today? what's driving the timing of that comment for today Thanks. thanks

Speaker 4: I'll have a go. You can correct me if I get it wrong. The trading is good at the moment. We did see, as others have commented on, for about three weeks in May, a bit of a decline, but then it bounced back. It's continued to be pretty good. I mean, we always see a decline in sales at this time of year. It's just seasonal. Relative to last year, our performance is good. A few weeks ago, I thought pricing was maybe going a little bit softer. That seems to have bounced back. I think as well, it's important to remember when you're growing a business, you've got more choice. You can afford to take different decisions. We haven't quite got that pressure to sell from a constrained and declining base. I guess we've got more opportunities. The product is really good. I'll have a go. i'll have a go You can correct me if I get it wrong. you can correct me if i get it wrong The trading is good at the moment. the trading is good at the moment We did see, as others have commented on, for about three weeks in May, a bit of a decline, but then it bounced back. we did see as others have commented on for about three weeks in may a bit of a decline but then it bounced back It's continued to be pretty good. it's continued to be pretty good I mean, we always see a decline in sales at this time of year. i mean we always see a decline in sales at this time of year It's just seasonal. it's just seasonal Relative to last year, our performance is good. relative to last year our performance is good A few weeks ago, I thought pricing was maybe going a little bit softer. a few weeks ago i thought pricing was maybe going a little bit softer That seems to have bounced back. that seems to have bounced back I think as well, it's important to remember when you're growing a business, you've got more choice. i think as well it's important to remember when you're growing a business you've got more choice You can afford to take different decisions. you can afford to take different decisions We haven't quite got that pressure to sell from a constrained and declining base. we haven't quite got that pressure to sell from a constrained and declining base I guess we've got more opportunities. i guess we've got more opportunities The product is really good. the product is really good We're also seeing a kind of renaissance of Charles Church, which the whole business is incredibly excited about. Much as I love what we're doing in Charles Church, I just think what we're doing at Persimmon gets better and better. I think we're building, as I roam around the business, causing mayhem, I see we're building fantastic products in locations where the real competitor is the second-hand market. What we're building actually is in those niche markets, actually aspirational for people in those markets. I'm just delighted with the progress we're making, and we're seeing that strength come through. I think that's really important. On 2026, do you want to cover that? I just wanted to get across the point about this embedded inflation, that it's just going to tip over. We're also seeing a kind of renaissance of Charles Church, which the whole business is incredibly excited about. we're also seeing a kind of renaissance of charles church which the whole business is incredibly excited about Much as I love what we're doing in Charles Church, I just think what we're doing at Persimmon gets better and better. much as i love what we're doing in charles church i just think what we're doing at persimmon gets better and better I think we're building, as I roam around the business, causing mayhem, I see we're building fantastic products in locations where the real competitor is the second-hand market. i think we're building as i roam around the business causing mayhem i see we're building fantastic products in locations where the real competitor is the second-hand market What we're building actually is in those niche markets, actually aspirational for people in those markets. what we're building actually is in those niche markets actually aspirational for people in those markets I'm just delighted with the progress we're making, and we're seeing that strength come through. i'm just delighted with the progress we're making and we're seeing that strength come through I think that's really important. i think that's really important On 2026, do you want to cover that? on 2026 do you want to cover that I just wanted to get across the point about this embedded inflation, that it's just going to tip over. i just wanted to get across the point about this embedded inflation that it's just going to tip over Actually, it becomes over time, it will go from a headwind to a tailwind as it drops off, which gives us the confidence to reiterate our margin opportunities. We just thought this was the right moment to set our views, and we depend on self-help, don't we? Actually, it becomes over time, it will go from a headwind to a tailwind as it drops off, which gives us the confidence to reiterate our margin opportunities. actually it becomes over time it will go from a headwind to a tailwind as it drops off which gives us the confidence to reiterate our margin opportunities We just thought this was the right moment to set our views, and we depend on self-help, don't we? we just thought this was the right moment to set our views and we depend on self-help don't we

Speaker 11: Yeah, we do. I think to the point of your question, we're not expecting the market to change. We're not trying to make a call on the market. We're looking in the current market and what we're doing around self-help, around outlets, what we see as opportunity in the business. I think it's also just a little bit of tidy up on the margin progression. It's just the pace. It's just a nudge on that, which I think is just to try and give you an early line of sight. It's just to try and be straightforward on it, really, is all we try to do. Yeah, we do. yeah we do I think to the point of your question, we're not expecting the market to change. i think to the point of your question we're not expecting the market to change We're not trying to make a call on the market. we're not trying to make a call on the market We're looking in the current market and what we're doing around self-help, around outlets, what we see as opportunity in the business. we're looking in the current market and what we're doing around self-help around outlets what we see as opportunity in the business I think it's also just a little bit of tidy up on the margin progression. i think it's also just a little bit of tidy up on the margin progression It's just the pace. it's just the pace It's just a nudge on that, which I think is just to try and give you an early line of sight. it's just a nudge on that which i think is just to try and give you an early line of sight It's just to try and be straightforward on it, really, is all we try to do. it's just to try and be straightforward on it really is all we try to do

Speaker 4: I will come to that side in a moment. I will come to that side in a moment. i will come to that side in a moment Thank you. On this cost inflation, which you mentioned was quite high a couple of years ago, I guess, since COVID. Can you remind us what's the driver of that? Is that raw material, labor, maybe land cost, perhaps? The second is on this capital allocation opportunity you mentioned. After we've done this building safety work, what kind of capital allocation are you thinking? Could share buyback be an option? Thank you. Thank you. thank you On this cost inflation, which you mentioned was quite high a couple of years ago, I guess, since COVID. on this cost inflation which you mentioned was quite high a couple of years ago i guess since covid Can you remind us what's the driver of that? can you remind us what's the driver of that Is that raw material, labor, maybe land cost, perhaps? is that raw material labor maybe land cost perhaps The second is on this capital allocation opportunity you mentioned. the second is on this capital allocation opportunity you mentioned After we've done this building safety work, what kind of capital allocation are you thinking? after we've done this building safety work what kind of capital allocation are you thinking Could share buyback be an option? could share buyback be an option Thank you. thank you

Speaker 11: Okay, no problem. Actually, I mean, if you cast your mind back, you know, 2022, you had energy spikes, you know, going into material pricing. You had, you know, you had inflation running in double digits for a prolonged period of time. Of course, you know, where you have bought a piece of land, you know, the feature of that period was that that inflation was not mirrored in house price inflation. Hence, you know, that cost inflation became a margin squeeze at that period of time. That's all, you know, that's all sort of the matter of fact as it was at the time. The point that we're just flagging is that those sites, you know, land is a clearly, you know, it takes a long period of time between agreeing terms and buying a piece of land until you have finished trading out on those sites. Okay, no problem. okay no problem Actually, I mean, if you cast your mind back, you know, 2022, you had energy spikes, you know, going into material pricing. actually i mean if you cast your mind back you know 2022 you had energy spikes you know going into material pricing You had, you know, you had inflation running in double digits for a prolonged period of time. you had you know you had inflation running in double digits for a prolonged period of time Of course, you know, where you have bought a piece of land, you know, the feature of that period was that that inflation was not mirrored in house price inflation. of course you know where you have bought a piece of land you know the feature of that period was that that inflation was not mirrored in house price inflation Hence, you know, that cost inflation became a margin squeeze at that period of time. hence you know that cost inflation became a margin squeeze at that period of time That's all, you know, that's all sort of the matter of fact as it was at the time. that's all you know that's all sort of the matter of fact as it was at the time The point that we're just flagging is that those sites, you know, land is a clearly, you know, it takes a long period of time between agreeing terms and buying a piece of land until you have finished trading out on those sites. the point that we're just flagging is that those sites you know land is a clearly you know it takes a long period of time between agreeing terms and buying a piece of land until you have finished trading out on those sites That's the point that we're flagging, that that impact will continue to be felt, you know, this year, next year, and then, you know, it starts to diminish. I think on the capital allocation point, I mean, I'm not going to give you the answer to what we'll do with the policy review. The point is I'm spending £100 million a year in round sum at the moment. That's £0.30 a share cash cost. Clearly, once I'm through my fire safety work, you know, in a couple of years' time, that gives me £100 million of opportunity, if you like, to think about how I deploy that money, whether that be around growing the business, whether that be about shareholder returns, you know, there's a whole raft of pieces. That's the point that we're flagging, that that impact will continue to be felt, you know, this year, next year, and then, you know, it starts to diminish. that's the point that we're flagging that that impact will continue to be felt you know this year next year and then you know it starts to diminish I think on the capital allocation point, I mean, I'm not going to give you the answer to what we'll do with the policy review. i think on the capital allocation point i mean i'm not going to give you the answer to what we'll do with the policy review The point is I'm spending £100 million a year in round sum at the moment. the point is i'm spending £100 million a year in round sum at the moment That's £0.30 a share cash cost. that's £0.30 a share cash cost Clearly, once I'm through my fire safety work, you know, in a couple of years' time, that gives me £100 million of opportunity, if you like, to think about how I deploy that money, whether that be around growing the business, whether that be about shareholder returns, you know, there's a whole raft of pieces. clearly once i'm through my fire safety work you know in a couple of years' time that gives me £100 million of opportunity if you like to think about how i deploy that money whether that be around growing the business whether that be about shareholder returns you know there's a whole raft of pieces The point is, at that point it becomes an opportunity for us to make that decision positively as opposed to us having to deal with the remediation work. It's good that we're dealing with it. It's the right thing to do. What we're doing is pointing out that this is a cash opportunity for us in due course. The point is, at that point it becomes an opportunity for us to make that decision positively as opposed to us having to deal with the remediation work. the point is at that point it becomes an opportunity for us to make that decision positively as opposed to us having to deal with the remediation work It's good that we're dealing with it. it's good that we're dealing with it It's the right thing to do. it's the right thing to do What we're doing is pointing out that this is a cash opportunity for us in due course. what we're doing is pointing out that this is a cash opportunity for us in due course

Speaker 4: We'd better go this side to be fair. We'd better go this side to be fair. we'd better go this side to be fair

Speaker 6: Thanks. Mark Howson from Dowgate, just a few questions. Obviously, the bulk of the story, the first question, the bulk of the story is obviously about the Persimmon product, getting that land right, etc. Can you just shed a bit more light on Charles Church, you know, why that's a better margin product going forward, how you positioned it? That's the first question. Thanks. thanks Mark Howson from Dowgate, just a few questions. mark howson from dowgate just a few questions Obviously, the bulk of the story, the first question, the bulk of the story is obviously about the Persimmon product, getting that land right, etc. Can you just shed a bit more light on Charles Church, you know, why that's a better margin product going forward, how you positioned it? obviously the bulk of the story the first question the bulk of the story is obviously about the persimmon product getting that land right etc can you just shed a bit more light on charles church you know why that's a better margin product going forward how you positioned it That's the first question. that's the first question

Speaker 4: Okay, in each of our segments, we're very much focused on the affordable end of it. It's an uptick from Persimmon. It's bigger, but it's still very much a premium economy. We're finding, I mean, we're building bigger products, so naturally there's a bigger ASP associated with it. What we're finding is that if you pick your markets well, and there's some good markets out there, there's real demand. I can think of one of our sites in Bristol, for instance, where it's a really good development. We're building it well. We're continuing to improve what we're building, the appearance of what we're building, and the demand gets stronger and stronger because it's really, again, it's competition. It's not really the new build around it. It's competition. It's second-hand houses up the hill in Westbury on Trim, and it's doing really well. We're getting downsizers coming to it. Okay, in each of our segments, we're very much focused on the affordable end of it. okay in each of our segments we're very much focused on the affordable end of it It's an uptick from Persimmon. it's an uptick from persimmon It's bigger, but it's still very much a premium economy. it's bigger but it's still very much a premium economy We're finding, I mean, we're building bigger products, so naturally there's a bigger ASP associated with it. we're finding i mean we're building bigger products so naturally there's a bigger asp associated with it What we're finding is that if you pick your markets well, and there's some good markets out there, there's real demand. what we're finding is that if you pick your markets well and there's some good markets out there there's real demand I can think of one of our sites in Bristol, for instance, where it's a really good development. i can think of one of our sites in bristol for instance where it's a really good development We're building it well. we're building it well We're continuing to improve what we're building, the appearance of what we're building, and the demand gets stronger and stronger because it's really, again, it's competition. we're continuing to improve what we're building the appearance of what we're building and the demand gets stronger and stronger because it's really again it's competition It's not really the new build around it. it's not really the new build around it It's competition. it's competition It's second-hand houses up the hill in Westbury on Trim, and it's doing really well. it's second-hand houses up the hill in westbury on trim and it's doing really well We're getting downsizers coming to it. we're getting downsizers coming to it It's the right size for people, and they're willing to pay a premium for that product. We're seeing that in other locations. I can talk to others at Litchfield and elsewhere. If you choose your markets well, and we've got plenty of opportunities, the demand is really strong. It's the right size for people, and they're willing to pay a premium for that product. it's the right size for people and they're willing to pay a premium for that product We're seeing that in other locations. we're seeing that in other locations I can talk to others at Litchfield and elsewhere. i can talk to others at litchfield and elsewhere If you choose your markets well, and we've got plenty of opportunities, the demand is really strong. if you choose your markets well and we've got plenty of opportunities the demand is really strong

Speaker 6: Just a second question from me, just on the Mauer, you know, the product up in Castle Bromwich. You could get that watertight within five days as opposed to eight to ten weeks. Can you just say what the early feedback is on how the construction teams are finding that product on site? That's a second question. Thanks. Just a second question from me, just on the Mauer, you know, the product up in Castle Bromwich. just a second question from me just on the mauer you know the product up in castle bromwich You could get that watertight within five days as opposed to eight to ten weeks. you could get that watertight within five days as opposed to eight to ten weeks Can you just say what the early feedback is on how the construction teams are finding that product on site? can you just say what the early feedback is on how the construction teams are finding that product on site That's a second question. that's a second question Thanks. thanks

Speaker 11: If you like. When I cover, there's two bits. The Mauer product itself, Mark, is still early. We're doing a trial on that product in situ with a customer this half year, but that is still very early days in terms of taking it into production on site. It is exciting because it gives us an opportunity for both speed and delivery with fewer resources required. That particular piece is early still, but is showing the continued progress that we're making in terms of innovation around vertical integration. The timber frame product itself, you know, I think the important thing is that we are using that now more widely around the country. For whatever reason, it's always being used in some regions extensively and in some regions have just stuck to traditional build. If you like. if you like When I cover, there's two bits. when i cover there's two bits The Mauer product itself, Mark, is still early. the mauer product itself mark is still early We're doing a trial on that product in situ with a customer this half year, but that is still very early days in terms of taking it into production on site. we're doing a trial on that product in situ with a customer this half year but that is still very early days in terms of taking it into production on site It is exciting because it gives us an opportunity for both speed and delivery with fewer resources required. it is exciting because it gives us an opportunity for both speed and delivery with fewer resources required That particular piece is early still, but is showing the continued progress that we're making in terms of innovation around vertical integration. that particular piece is early still but is showing the continued progress that we're making in terms of innovation around vertical integration The timber frame product itself, you know, I think the important thing is that we are using that now more widely around the country. the timber frame product itself you know i think the important thing is that we are using that now more widely around the country For whatever reason, it's always being used in some regions extensively and in some regions have just stuck to traditional build. for whatever reason it's always being used in some regions extensively and in some regions have just stuck to traditional build What we're looking to do, particularly with the new line in Castle Bromwich, with the new factory that we're looking to develop, is to make sure that our take-up of timber frame is more consistent across the country. We're now trialing and using timber frame in those regions that haven't had the experience previously. That's actually working well in some really good examples. When you talk to teams, they've been really pleased with how that's worked. I think probably the timber frame product, more generally in the industry, is better now than it used to be. Some of those sort of legacy concerns actually have proved not to be the case anymore. I'm really pleased with how our local construction teams and Managing Directors have lent into that and taken that on board as they look to extend the use of timber frame. What we're looking to do, particularly with the new line in Castle Bromwich, with the new factory that we're looking to develop, is to make sure that our take-up of timber frame is more consistent across the country. what we're looking to do particularly with the new line in castle bromwich with the new factory that we're looking to develop is to make sure that our take-up of timber frame is more consistent across the country We're now trialing and using timber frame in those regions that haven't had the experience previously. we're now trialing and using timber frame in those regions that haven't had the experience previously That's actually working well in some really good examples. that's actually working well in some really good examples When you talk to teams, they've been really pleased with how that's worked. when you talk to teams they've been really pleased with how that's worked I think probably the timber frame product, more generally in the industry, is better now than it used to be. i think probably the timber frame product more generally in the industry is better now than it used to be Some of those sort of legacy concerns actually have proved not to be the case anymore. some of those sort of legacy concerns actually have proved not to be the case anymore I'm really pleased with how our local construction teams and Managing Directors have lent into that and taken that on board as they look to extend the use of timber frame. i'm really pleased with how our local construction teams and managing directors have lent into that and taken that on board as they look to extend the use of timber frame

Speaker 4: Kind of perversely as well, actually, where the market is strongest for us at the moment is where we're slowest to build. If we can get the adoption of a timber frame through the business, and it is a particular skill which teams have got to learn to get used to, then you've got the compounding benefit of there's a really strong market out there. We can sell them as fast as we can build them still. Stay this side for a minute. Kind of perversely as well, actually, where the market is strongest for us at the moment is where we're slowest to build. kind of perversely as well actually where the market is strongest for us at the moment is where we're slowest to build If we can get the adoption of a timber frame through the business, and it is a particular skill which teams have got to learn to get used to, then you've got the compounding benefit of there's a really strong market out there. if we can get the adoption of a timber frame through the business and it is a particular skill which teams have got to learn to get used to then you've got the compounding benefit of there's a really strong market out there We can sell them as fast as we can build them still. we can sell them as fast as we can build them still Stay this side for a minute . stay this side for a minute

Speaker 15: Morning, Adrian Kearsey, Panmure Liberum. A couple of questions, if I may. One on dual branded sites. 35 of the 53 Charles Church sites are dual branded sites. Is that a similar kind of proportion you'd expect going forward as you grow the business? Related to that, when you look at a dual branded site, are the sales rates for Charles Church similar to single brand sites? A third question, if I may. You're increasing outlets or plan to increase outlets by 5% in 2026. You talked about the changing WIP dynamics coming through from the investment in infrastructure. How should we think of the evolution of WIP in relation to that infrastructure investment going into 2026? [audio distortion] Morning, Adrian Kearsey , Panmure Liberum . morning adrian kearsey panmure liberum A couple of questions, if I may. a couple of questions if i may One on dual branded sites. 35 of the 53 Charles Church sites are dual branded sites. one on dual branded sites 35 of the 53 charles church sites are dual branded sites Is that a similar kind of proportion you'd expect going forward as you grow the business? is that a similar kind of proportion you'd expect going forward as you grow the business Related to that, when you look at a dual branded site, are the sales rates for Charles Church similar to single brand sites? related to that when you look at a dual branded site are the sales rates for charles church similar to single brand sites A third question, if I may. a third question if i may You're increasing outlets or plan to increase outlets by 5% in 2026. you're increasing outlets or plan to increase outlets by 5% in 2026 You talked about the changing WIP dynamics coming through from the investment in infrastructure. you talked about the changing wip dynamics coming through from the investment in infrastructure How should we think of the evolution of WIP in relation to that infrastructure investment going into 2026? [audio distortion] how should we think of the evolution of wip in relation to that infrastructure investment going into 2026? [audio distortion]

Speaker 4: Yeah, there's plenty of opportunities for us to continue to roll out dual branded sites across the business, and we'll continue to do that. Over time, I would hope that we increase that proposition. Of course, it really does depend on every single individual market and other opportunities of land that come through. As well as a strategy, there's also opportunism in there. It depends just where the land is. Charles Church, being a bigger product, inevitably has a slower sales rate than Persimmon, but what it is doing is overall accelerating their sales rate and therefore the asset turn on a dual branded site. It's doing the job it's, you know, we're asking it to do, really. Yeah, there's plenty of opportunities for us to continue to roll out dual branded sites across the business, and we'll continue to do that. yeah there's plenty of opportunities for us to continue to roll out dual branded sites across the business and we'll continue to do that Over time, I would hope that we increase that proposition. over time i would hope that we increase that proposition Of course, it really does depend on every single individual market and other opportunities of land that come through. of course it really does depend on every single individual market and other opportunities of land that come through As well as a strategy, there's also opportunism in there. as well as a strategy there's also opportunism in there It depends just where the land is. it depends just where the land is Charles Church, being a bigger product, inevitably has a slower sales rate than Persimmon, but what it is doing is overall accelerating their sales rate and therefore the asset turn on a dual branded site. charles church being a bigger product inevitably has a slower sales rate than persimmon but what it is doing is overall accelerating their sales rate and therefore the asset turn on a dual branded site It's doing the job it's, you know, we're asking it to do, really. it's doing the job it's you know we're asking it to do really

Speaker 11: Yeah, Adrian, on the outlets and the way I mean, it obviously depends site by site because they're all so different. I'm probably thinking you're at £10 million, £20 million of WIP to get a new outlet open. It clearly depends on offsite work, it depends on access, it depends on a whole raft of features. There is investment. I think what we're probably also finding is that, and probably particularly on Charles Church, actually, customers want to see the product. Again, as you open the site, there's probably a bit more WIP because you want to be a bit further through on the build so that the customers can see the products. That maybe is a different feature to a decade ago when you probably sold more from plan. I think, and particularly at a higher price point, we're seeing that is undoubtedly a feature. Yeah, Adrian, on the outlets and the way I mean , it obviously depends site by site because they're all so different. yeah adrian on the outlets and the way i mean it obviously depends site by site because they're all so different I'm probably thinking you're at £10 million, £20 million of WIP to get a new outlet open. i'm probably thinking you're at £10 million £20 million of wip to get a new outlet open It clearly depends on offsite work, it depends on access, it depends on a whole raft of features. it clearly depends on offsite work it depends on access it depends on a whole raft of features There is investment. there is investment I think what we're probably also finding is that, and probably particularly on Charles Church, actually, customers want to see the product. i think what we're probably also finding is that and probably particularly on charles church actually customers want to see the product Again, as you open the site, there's probably a bit more WIP because you want to be a bit further through on the build so that the customers can see the products. again as you open the site there's probably a bit more wip because you want to be a bit further through on the build so that the customers can see the products That maybe is a different feature to a decade ago when you probably sold more from plan. that maybe is a different feature to a decade ago when you probably sold more from plan I think, and particularly at a higher price point, we're seeing that is undoubtedly a feature. i think and particularly at a higher price point we're seeing that is undoubtedly a feature

Speaker 5: Morning, Chris Millington, Deutsche Numis. First of all, I just wanted to ask about the shape of the balance sheet. Obviously, you're looking forward to the end of the fire safety. What would you like to see adjusted gearing in this business? Obviously, land creditors are potentially quite a big moving part in that. I'll go one at a time. It's probably better. Morning, Chris Millington, Deutsche Numis. morning chris millington deutsche numis First of all, I just wanted to ask about the shape of the balance sheet. first of all i just wanted to ask about the shape of the balance sheet Obviously, you're looking forward to the end of the fire safety. obviously you're looking forward to the end of the fire safety What would you like to see adjusted gearing in this business? what would you like to see adjusted gearing in this business Obviously, land creditors are potentially quite a big moving part in that. obviously land creditors are potentially quite a big moving part in that I'll go one at a time. i'll go one at a time It's probably better. it's probably better

Speaker 11: Chris, we haven't set a target for adjusted gearing. I think what we have said is at this point of the market, we're happy that we are using the balance sheet strength more, which is why our gearing has increased a shade. 8% adjusted gearing is still, I think, entirely fine. I think as we progress, probably not in 2026, but certainly through 2027, 2028, as the fire safety piece comes back and as the business is growing, you'll see that starting to come back the other way. I'm happy that at this part of the cycle, investing for growth is the right thing to do. Letting that adjusted gearing just increase a little bit is fine. Chris, we haven't set a target for adjusted gearing. chris we haven't set a target for adjusted gearing I think what we have said is at this point of the market, we're happy that we are using the balance sheet strength more, which is why our gearing has increased a shade. 8% adjusted gearing is still, I think, entirely fine. i think what we have said is at this point of the market we're happy that we are using the balance sheet strength more which is why our gearing has increased a shade 8% adjusted gearing is still i think entirely fine I think as we progress, probably not in 2026, but certainly through 2027, 2028, as the fire safety piece comes back and as the business is growing, you'll see that starting to come back the other way. i think as we progress probably not in 2026 but certainly through 2027 2028 as the fire safety piece comes back and as the business is growing you'll see that starting to come back the other way I'm happy that at this part of the cycle, investing for growth is the right thing to do. i'm happy that at this part of the cycle investing for growth is the right thing to do Letting that adjusted gearing just increase a little bit is fine. letting that adjusted gearing just increase a little bit is fine

Speaker 5: That's very helpful. Next one I've got really is the 20% target margin versus the 14.5% at the moment. What are the components together? I presume it's a land mix, an overhead recovery. I'm not asking for specifics, just a general sort of build there. That's very helpful. that's very helpful Next one I've got really is the 20% target margin versus the 14.5% at the moment. next one i've got really is the 20% target margin versus the 14.5% at the moment What are the components together? what are the components together I presume it's a land mix, an overhead recovery. i presume it's a land mix an overhead recovery I'm not asking for specifics, just a general sort of build there. i'm not asking for specifics just a general sort of build there

Speaker 11: Yeah, so it's a raft of pieces in there, Chris. Overhead recovery, so clearly as we continue to grow volumes, and yeah, that will be a big piece of there. We've already talked through the Q&A on Charles Church, which clearly we've said will grow faster, and that is delivering a higher margin. Clearly, the land mix, and in particular within that, the embedded inflation, as that starts to come off, that will also feed in there. As we deliver more volume with that vertical integration piece and that speed of build that we just talked through with Mark's question, those are the key pieces. Yeah, so it's a raft of pieces in there, Chris. yeah so it's a raft of pieces in there chris Overhead recovery, so clearly as we continue to grow volumes, and yeah, that will be a big piece of there. overhead recovery so clearly as we continue to grow volumes and yeah that will be a big piece of there We've already talked through the Q&A on Charles Church, which clearly we've said will grow faster, and that is delivering a higher margin. we've already talked through the q&a on charles church which clearly we've said will grow faster and that is delivering a higher margin Clearly, the land mix, and in particular within that, the embedded inflation, as that starts to come off, that will also feed in there. clearly the land mix and in particular within that the embedded inflation as that starts to come off that will also feed in there As we deliver more volume with that vertical integration piece and that speed of build that we just talked through with Mark's question, those are the key pieces. as we deliver more volume with that vertical integration piece and that speed of build that we just talked through with mark's question those are the key pieces We set out in March, as we said during the presentation, it will be back-ended, and it will be bumpy, and there will be pieces coming towards us, whether it's say on regulatory costs and so on, which we will need to deal with as we go through there. I think it's not, you know, we always said it wouldn't, it's not just a kind of straight line trajectory up there, but those are the key building blocks. We set out in March, as we said during the presentation, it will be back-ended, and it will be bumpy, and there will be pieces coming towards us, whether it's say on regulatory costs and so on, which we will need to deal with as we go through there. we set out in march as we said during the presentation it will be back-ended and it will be bumpy and there will be pieces coming towards us whether it's say on regulatory costs and so on which we will need to deal with as we go through there I think it's not, you know, we always said it wouldn't, it's not just a kind of straight line trajectory up there, but those are the key building blocks. i think it's not you know we always said it wouldn't it's not just a kind of straight line trajectory up there but those are the key building blocks

Speaker 4: If I may just come in, I think when you think through the consequences of us suffering 33% build cost inflation and, you know, flat to modest ASP growth, that's a hell of a thing to absorb. Inevitably, we are working through sites that we bought ahead of that that suffered that build cost inflation, and nobody prices that sort of level into the market. For instance, last week, we got a ticket on a piece of land up in Teesside. That was one of the first bits of land that I was asked to sign off when I joined the business five years ago. Two things in that. You can see what's happened there, and you can see how long it's taken us to get planning through. That is still, nevertheless, a good piece of land that I wouldn't turn away. Is it as high as our historical margins? If I may just come in, I think when you think through the consequences of us suffering 33% build cost inflation and, you know, flat to modest ASP growth, that's a hell of a thing to absorb. if i may just come in i think when you think through the consequences of us suffering 33% build cost inflation and you know flat to modest asp growth that's a hell of a thing to absorb Inevitably, we are working through sites that we bought ahead of that that suffered that build cost inflation, and nobody prices that sort of level into the market. inevitably we are working through sites that we bought ahead of that that suffered that build cost inflation and nobody prices that sort of level into the market For instance, last week, we got a ticket on a piece of land up in Teesside. for instance last week we got a ticket on a piece of land up in teesside That was one of the first bits of land that I was asked to sign off when I joined the business five years ago. that was one of the first bits of land that i was asked to sign off when i joined the business five years ago Two things in that. two things in that You can see what's happened there, and you can see how long it's taken us to get planning through. you can see what's happened there and you can see how long it's taken us to get planning through That is still, nevertheless, a good piece of land that I wouldn't turn away. that is still nevertheless a good piece of land that i wouldn't turn away Is it as high as our historical margins? is it as high as our historical margins No, it's not. Is that going to create shareholder value going forward? Yes, it is. We are going to transact and buy that piece of land. You can see that impact. That is actually quite a beefy piece of drag on the margin, which will impact us for the next few years. When that comes off and writes itself, it has a really positive impact. I think land going forward, as we're buying land adjusted to new costs, it really does help our margin story. Also, I think the benefits of vertical integration will help us as well. There's a margin uptick coming from that as we build faster. No, it's not. no it's not Is that going to create shareholder value going forward? is that going to create shareholder value going forward Yes, it is. yes it is We are going to transact and buy that piece of land. we are going to transact and buy that piece of land You can see that impact. you can see that impact That is actually quite a beefy piece of drag on the margin, which will impact us for the next few years. that is actually quite a beefy piece of drag on the margin which will impact us for the next few years When that comes off and writes itself, it has a really positive impact. when that comes off and writes itself it has a really positive impact I think land going forward, as we're buying land adjusted to new costs, it really does help our margin story. i think land going forward as we're buying land adjusted to new costs it really does help our margin story Also, I think the benefits of vertical integration will help us as well. also i think the benefits of vertical integration will help us as well There's a margin uptick coming from that as we build faster. there's a margin uptick coming from that as we build faster

Speaker 11: Final one, and it's about whether the government are likely to give us anything in this sector rather than take away at the moment. You're hearing anything on demand side stimulus? Yeah, I could go on about the government. Final one, and it's about whether the government are likely to give us anything in this sector rather than take away at the moment. final one and it's about whether the government are likely to give us anything in this sector rather than take away at the moment You're hearing anything on demand side stimulus? you're hearing anything on demand side stimulus Yeah, I could go on about the government. yeah i could go on about the government

Speaker 4: It's not our central case that we think that there's, you know, everybody can see the fiscal pressures are really tight. I think we've seen real positivity on planning and getting consent. That's a really good piece of news. I think though we need to see a focus brought further down, if you like, the pipeline of bringing a site from consent into production. The logjams that were there on providing consent are now gone, but we're now seeing it can be quite challenging to go from, you've got the ticket, to getting onto it because you've got discharge conditions or you've got water problems you've got to deal with, nutrients problems you've got to deal with, and so on. There are still blockages there. As you can see, we're knocking them over because we're growing. It's not our central case that we think that there's, you know, everybody can see the fiscal pressures are really tight. it's not our central case that we think that there's you know everybody can see the fiscal pressures are really tight I think we've seen real positivity on planning and getting consent. i think we've seen real positivity on planning and getting consent That's a really good piece of news. that's a really good piece of news I think though we need to see a focus brought further down, if you like, the pipeline of bringing a site from consent into production. i think though we need to see a focus brought further down if you like the pipeline of bringing a site from consent into production The logjams that were there on providing consent are now gone, but we're now seeing it can be quite challenging to go from, you've got the ticket, to getting onto it because you've got discharge conditions or you've got water problems you've got to deal with, nutrients problems you've got to deal with, and so on. the logjams that were there on providing consent are now gone but we're now seeing it can be quite challenging to go from you've got the ticket to getting onto it because you've got discharge conditions or you've got water problems you've got to deal with nutrients problems you've got to deal with and so on There are still blockages there. there are still blockages there As you can see, we're knocking them over because we're growing. as you can see we're knocking them over because we're growing If there was a plea from me to government, it would be, please unlock, as you've unlocked planning, can you unlock our discharge conditions as well so we could move faster? Our strategy though is about self-help, and that's what we're really focused on. You can see in these results, I think, that it's working. We've grown ASPs, we've grown completions, we've grown consent, we've grown outlets, we've grown profits. You know, it's working. If there was a plea from me to government, it would be, please unlock, as you've unlocked planning, can you unlock our discharge conditions as well so we could move faster? if there was a plea from me to government it would be please unlock as you've unlocked planning can you unlock our discharge conditions as well so we could move faster Our strategy though is about self-help, and that's what we're really focused on. our strategy though is about self-help and that's what we're really focused on You can see in these results, I think, that it's working. you can see in these results i think that it's working We've grown ASPs, we've grown completions, we've grown consent, we've grown outlets, we've grown profits. we've grown asps we've grown completions we've grown consent we've grown outlets we've grown profits You know, it's working. you know it's working

Speaker 14: Thanks, Ami Galla from Citi. A few questions from me. The first one, a follow-up on the margin evolution next year. Can you give us some color as to the sales and marketing investments that you've been making? Has that spend normalized now, or you touch upon a new marketing platform next year? Is there sort of an incremental OpEx investment on that bucket? The second question was on planning. You've given us some helpful color on your approach to planning. On the successes that you've had so far into this year, is there a regional bias, or has it been broad-based? The last question was just on the CapEx spend, your ambitions on investment in Space4 across the brick and tile facility as well. Can you give us some sort of guiding post as to how to think about CapEx in the business over the next two to three years? Thanks, Ami Galla from Citi. thanks, ami galla from citi A few questions from me. a few questions from me The first one, a follow-up on the margin evolution next year. the first one a follow-up on the margin evolution next year Can you give us some color as to the sales and marketing investments that you've been making? can you give us some color as to the sales and marketing investments that you've been making Has that spend normalized now, or you touch upon a new marketing platform next year? has that spend normalized now or you touch upon a new marketing platform next year Is there sort of an incremental OpEx investment on that bucket? is there sort of an incremental opex investment on that bucket The second question was on planning. the second question was on planning You've given us some helpful color on your approach to planning. you've given us some helpful color on your approach to planning On the successes that you've had so far into this year, is there a regional bias, or has it been broad-based? on the successes that you've had so far into this year is there a regional bias or has it been broad-based The last question was just on the CapEx spend, your ambitions on investment in Space4 across the brick and tile facility as well. the last question was just on the capex spend your ambitions on investment in space4 across the brick and tile facility as well Can you give us some sort of guiding post as to how to think about CapEx in the business over the next two to three years? can you give us some sort of guiding post as to how to think about capex in the business over the next two to three years

Speaker 11: Do you want to do the planning one, Dean? Do you want to do the planning one, Dean? do you want to do the planning one dean

Speaker 4: Yeah. No, planning across the country is, you know, pretty consistent. There's no regional bias. Yeah. yeah No, planning across the country is, you know, pretty consistent. no planning across the country is you know pretty consistent There's no regional bias. there's no regional bias

Speaker 11: The marketing, I mean, there is, I guess, a couple of things. We've invested in the teams more generally, whether that's training. We've talked about mystery shopping on the slides, and that is, if you like, a permanent investment. I think if you compare the cost of sales and marketing now and in this cycle to the cost of sales and marketing five to ten years ago in the previous cycle, there is a step change up because it is more competitive. It's harder to sell houses. Customer expectations are higher. The requirements onto our sales and marketing teams are higher, so there is a step change there. We are spending at the moment on, as Dean said, a couple of things, the new website, which will come through, and then more broadly, our new kind of CRM platform, I suppose, permanently. The marketing, I mean, there is, I guess, a couple of things. the marketing i mean there is i guess a couple of things We've invested in the teams more generally, whether that's training. we've invested in the teams more generally whether that's training We've talked about mystery shopping on the slides, and that is, if you like, a permanent investment. we've talked about mystery shopping on the slides and that is if you like a permanent investment I think if you compare the cost of sales and marketing now and in this cycle to the cost of sales and marketing five to ten years ago in the previous cycle, there is a step change up because it is more competitive. i think if you compare the cost of sales and marketing now and in this cycle to the cost of sales and marketing five to ten years ago in the previous cycle there is a step change up because it is more competitive It's harder to sell houses. it's harder to sell houses Customer expectations are higher. customer expectations are higher The requirements onto our sales and marketing teams are higher, so there is a step change there. the requirements onto our sales and marketing teams are higher so there is a step change there We are spending at the moment on, as Dean said, a couple of things, the new website, which will come through, and then more broadly, our new kind of CRM platform, I suppose, permanently. we are spending at the moment on as dean said a couple of things the new website which will come through and then more broadly our new kind of crm platform i suppose permanently That will be spent through this year and next year. In terms of CapEx, we obviously spent some money on the Space4 line that you could see on the photographs. We will be spending a little bit of money on the new line in the brick factory up in Doncaster. I guess the bigger piece of CapEx will be as we start to build our second timber frame factory. The important thing is, this is a good use of capital because the returns that we get, both in terms of the volumes that we get off there, the cost of delivery, and the speed of build that we get from the timber frame. These are good capital investments for us. That will be spent through this year and next year. that will be spent through this year and next year In terms of CapEx, we obviously spent some money on the Space4 line that you could see on the photographs. in terms of capex we obviously spent some money on the space4 line that you could see on the photographs We will be spending a little bit of money on the new line in the brick factory up in Doncaster. we will be spending a little bit of money on the new line in the brick factory up in doncaster I guess the bigger piece of CapEx will be as we start to build our second timber frame factory. i guess the bigger piece of capex will be as we start to build our second timber frame factory The important thing is, this is a good use of capital because the returns that we get, both in terms of the volumes that we get off there, the cost of delivery, and the speed of build that we get from the timber frame. the important thing is this is a good use of capital because the returns that we get both in terms of the volumes that we get off there the cost of delivery and the speed of build that we get from the timber frame These are good capital investments for us. these are good capital investments for us

Speaker 4: To the next one. To the next one. to the next one

Speaker 9: Zaim Beekawa, JPMorgan. Thanks for taking my questions. A couple here. One on the BCR market. You mentioned 14 new partners. What's exactly driving that? Why they, what's or what you're doing to attract them? Secondly, I think you mentioned the land market seeing good opportunities. How does it differ in terms of size? You see some appetite for larger land. I maybe squeeze one in on the land market. Are you seeing sort of opportunities for larger plots of land versus smaller ones? Maybe squeezing one on the brick and tile lines factory. Just how much the new line in terms of capacity will give you? Thank you. Zaim Beekawa, JPMorgan. Thanks for taking my questions. zaim beekawa, jpmorgan. thanks for taking my questions A couple here. a couple here One on the BCR market. one on the bcr market You mentioned 14 new partners. you mentioned 14 new partners What's exactly driving that? what's exactly driving that Why they, what's or what you're doing to attract them? why they what's or what you're doing to attract them Secondly, I think you mentioned the land market seeing good opportunities. secondly i think you mentioned the land market seeing good opportunities How does it differ in terms of size? how does it differ in terms of size You see some appetite for larger land. you see some appetite for larger land I maybe squeeze one in on the land market. i maybe squeeze one in on the land market Are you seeing sort of opportunities for larger plots of land versus smaller ones? are you seeing sort of opportunities for larger plots of land versus smaller ones Maybe squeezing one on the brick and tile lines factory. maybe squeezing one on the brick and tile lines factory Just how much the new line in terms of capacity will give you? just how much the new line in terms of capacity will give you Thank you. thank you

Speaker 11: I do. Why don't I start and you can jump in, Dean, if that's fine. In terms of BTTR partners, I think this goes back to the work that the company's been doing over the last three, four, five years around the whole piece on quality, on customer service, on the products. If you go to our sites, and it's not just Charles Church sites, it's Persimmon sites, they look good. The sites look good, they stand well, the environment they're in is good, so the customer journey is, I think, I wasn't here, so I wasn't as closely involved as Dean, but I think it's a step change in terms of that quality journey and the quality of the product. That's why we've been able to now start to work with more partners, as well as in the way that we try to do business. I think we're straightforward. I do. i do Why don't I start and you can jump in, Dean, if that's fine. why don't i start and you can jump in dean if that's fine In terms of BTTR partners, I think this goes back to the work that the company's been doing over the last three, four, five years around the whole piece on quality, on customer service, on the products. in terms of bttr partners i think this goes back to the work that the company's been doing over the last three four five years around the whole piece on quality on customer service on the products If you go to our sites, and it's not just Charles Church sites, it's Persimmon sites, they look good. if you go to our sites and it's not just charles church sites it's persimmon sites they look good The sites look good, they stand well, the environment they're in is good, so the customer journey is, I think, I wasn't here, so I wasn't as closely involved as Dean, but I think it's a step change in terms of that quality journey and the quality of the product. the sites look good they stand well the environment they're in is good so the customer journey is i think i wasn't here so i wasn't as closely involved as dean but i think it's a step change in terms of that quality journey and the quality of the product That's why we've been able to now start to work with more partners, as well as in the way that we try to do business. that's why we've been able to now start to work with more partners as well as in the way that we try to do business I think we're straightforward. i think we're straightforward I think we try to deliver what we say we're going to deliver and so on. We are a business, and because we're growing, we've got new sites, there's opportunity. All of these things kind of come together. I suppose if you put the question the other way around, if you were a build-to-rent provider, actually Persimmon is now looking like a pretty attractive partner for you. I think it's a whole raft of these features and the improvement in the business and the platform is now allowing us to work with that broader range of partners. I think we try to deliver what we say we're going to deliver and so on. i think we try to deliver what we say we're going to deliver and so on We are a business, and because we're growing, we've got new sites, there's opportunity. we are a business and because we're growing we've got new sites there's opportunity All of these things kind of come together. all of these things kind of come together I suppose if you put the question the other way around, if you were a build-to-rent provider, actually Persimmon is now looking like a pretty attractive partner for you. i suppose if you put the question the other way around if you were a build-to-rent provider actually persimmon is now looking like a pretty attractive partner for you I think it's a whole raft of these features and the improvement in the business and the platform is now allowing us to work with that broader range of partners. i think it's a whole raft of these features and the improvement in the business and the platform is now allowing us to work with that broader range of partners In terms of land opportunities, I would say it's across the piece, so some large schemes, small schemes, and of course, now that we have the Charles Church opportunity, it doesn't, of course, work in every single locality, but in some localities that gives us opportunities to look at different size pieces of land as well. I think we're seeing good opportunities across the country and across the whole breadth of size of pieces. I think the land market is open to us at the moment. It comes back to cash allocation and having a balance sheet to be able to play in that market. I think that's an important piece and something, again, that Persimmon is able to do. I don't know whether you want to say anything else on the land. In terms of land opportunities, I would say it's across the piece, so some large schemes, small schemes, and of course, now that we have the Charles Church opportunity, it doesn't, of course, work in every single locality, but in some localities that gives us opportunities to look at different size pieces of land as well. in terms of land opportunities i would say it's across the piece so some large schemes small schemes and of course now that we have the charles church opportunity it doesn't of course work in every single locality but in some localities that gives us opportunities to look at different size pieces of land as well I think we're seeing good opportunities across the country and across the whole breadth of size of pieces. i think we're seeing good opportunities across the country and across the whole breadth of size of pieces I think the land market is open to us at the moment. i think the land market is open to us at the moment It comes back to cash allocation and having a balance sheet to be able to play in that market. it comes back to cash allocation and having a balance sheet to be able to play in that market I think that's an important piece and something, again, that Persimmon is able to do. i think that's an important piece and something again that persimmon is able to do I don't know whether you want to say anything else on the land. i don't know whether you want to say anything else on the land

Speaker 4: I'll just say one more thing on land. We talked about a lot of, you know, impact to a better service and quality on customers, but actually it's really important to the land market as well. I've sat this year in front of a number of new groups of landowners to us for whom actually reputation for them is really important. As they can see our product improving, they want to talk to us. They wouldn't have talked to us in the past. The developments in Charles Church are really, really important. I can think of one site that we've just exchanged on in East Anglia, where showing that our build quality and service was much improved was absolutely vital. Even more important was the appearance of the sites that we're now building. I'll just say one more thing on land. i'll just say one more thing on land We talked about a lot of, you know, impact to a better service and quality on customers, but actually it's really important to the land market as well. we talked about a lot of you know impact to a better service and quality on customers but actually it's really important to the land market as well I've sat this year in front of a number of new groups of landowners to us for whom actually reputation for them is really important. i've sat this year in front of a number of new groups of landowners to us for whom actually reputation for them is really important As they can see our product improving, they want to talk to us. as they can see our product improving they want to talk to us They wouldn't have talked to us in the past. they wouldn't have talked to us in the past The developments in Charles Church are really, really important. the developments in charles church are really really important I can think of one site that we've just exchanged on in East Anglia, where showing that our build quality and service was much improved was absolutely vital. i can think of one site that we've just exchanged on in east anglia where showing that our build quality and service was much improved was absolutely vital Even more important was the appearance of the sites that we're now building. even more important was the appearance of the sites that we're now building In a competitive market, we didn't bid the highest price, but we won that land because we were seen as a good partner and now they could trust us to build. I think the work we're doing there is not to be overlooked and it is opening up opportunities for us. In a competitive market, we didn't bid the highest price, but we won that land because we were seen as a good partner and now they could trust us to build. in a competitive market we didn't bid the highest price but we won that land because we were seen as a good partner and now they could trust us to build I think the work we're doing there is not to be overlooked and it is opening up opportunities for us. i think the work we're doing there is not to be overlooked and it is opening up opportunities for us

Speaker 11: Just mopping up on the brickworks. Last year we were, I can't remember the exact percentage, sort of 60% or so of our delivery was with our own bricks. The factory there is working 24/7. Now we're obviously growing outlets and I want to continue to be able to deliver that volume, mid-60% of bricks. That's why we're putting the extra capacity in. That capacity will come online. We'll build that through next year and that will be online later next year. Just mopping up on the brickworks. just mopping up on the brickworks Last year we were, I can't remember the exact percentage, sort of 60% or so of our delivery was with our own bricks. last year we were i can't remember the exact percentage sort of 60% or so of our delivery was with our own bricks The factory there is working 24/7. the factory there is working 24/7 Now we're obviously growing outlets and I want to continue to be able to deliver that volume, mid-60% of bricks. now we're obviously growing outlets and i want to continue to be able to deliver that volume mid-60% of bricks That's why we're putting the extra capacity in. that's why we're putting the extra capacity in That capacity will come online. that capacity will come online We'll build that through next year and that will be online later next year. we'll build that through next year and that will be online later next year

Speaker 4: We'd better go a bit towards the back, I think, and then we'll come back if we're done. We'd better go a bit towards the back, I think, and then we'll come back if we're done. we'd better go a bit towards the back i think and then we'll come back if we're done

Speaker 2: Alastair Stewart from Progressive. A couple of related questions on New Build Boost. Can you give a bit more detail on what that will entail and how many of your buyers could end up using it? Dean, I was interested to hear you unprompted in your closing remarks saying you don't expect a demand stimulus from government. You seem to have broken ranks a bit with your peers in that they're still banging on about that. Is this a viewpoint you've had for a while or have you had the heads up from any civil servants of late? Alastair Stewart from Progressive. A couple of related questions on New Build Boost. alastair stewart from progressive. a couple of related questions on new build boost Can you give a bit more detail on what that will entail and how many of your buyers could end up using it? can you give a bit more detail on what that will entail and how many of your buyers could end up using it Dean, I was interested to hear you unprompted in your closing remarks saying you don't expect a demand stimulus from government. dean i was interested to hear you unprompted in your closing remarks saying you don't expect a demand stimulus from government You seem to have broken ranks a bit with your peers in that they're still banging on about that. you seem to have broken ranks a bit with your peers in that they're still banging on about that Is this a viewpoint you've had for a while or have you had the heads up from any civil servants of late? is this a viewpoint you've had for a while or have you had the heads up from any civil servants of late

Speaker 4: Sure, shall I answer that in your New Build Boost? Sure, shall I answer that in your New Build Boost? sure shall i answer that in your new build boost

Speaker 11: If you like, yeah. If you like, yeah. if you like yeah

Speaker 4: I mean, look, obviously if there was a demand stimulus, we certainly wouldn't turn it away. It's just that we're not expecting it. It's not our, I don't think hope is a strategy. Hoping that there's going to be a demand stimulus tomorrow, when it seems to me, given the fiscal constraints the government are under, it seems a pretty low probability. We're not waiting for that. That's why our strategy has all been about self-help. If we do get a demand stimulus, then that doesn't negate what we're doing. Actually, it will give us a tailwind. Happy days. Our central assumption is that there's not going to be a demand stimulus anytime soon. Happy to be proven wrong, I think. I mean, look, obviously if there was a demand stimulus, we certainly wouldn't turn it away. i mean look obviously if there was a demand stimulus we certainly wouldn't turn it away It's just that we're not expecting it. it's just that we're not expecting it It's not our, I don't think hope is a strategy. it's not our i don't think hope is a strategy Hoping that there's going to be a demand stimulus tomorrow, when it seems to me, given the fiscal constraints the government are under, it seems a pretty low probability. hoping that there's going to be a demand stimulus tomorrow when it seems to me given the fiscal constraints the government are under it seems a pretty low probability We're not waiting for that. we're not waiting for that That's why our strategy has all been about self-help. that's why our strategy has all been about self-help If we do get a demand stimulus, then that doesn't negate what we're doing. if we do get a demand stimulus then that doesn't negate what we're doing Actually, it will give us a tailwind. actually it will give us a tailwind Happy days. happy days Our central assumption is that there's not going to be a demand stimulus anytime soon. our central assumption is that there's not going to be a demand stimulus anytime soon Happy to be proven wrong, I think. happy to be proven wrong i think

Speaker 11: Segueing beautifully into New Build Boost, it's an example where we're not waiting for someone else to do it for us. Actually, we're looking at what can we do to try to get that incremental assistance ourselves. New Build Boost is a good example of the self-help strategy in action, and it's incrementally helpful. By the way, so is the fact that interest rates are a little bit lower. So is the fact that the banks are lending at slightly higher multiples of income. These are all incrementally helpful. I don't think any of them individually are an absolute silver bullet, but I think it's all helpful. What New Build Boost is doing, I mean, so clearly we're funding the 15% element of New Build Boost. What it's doing, as Dean said earlier, is it's driving more people to site, so it's driving interest. Segueing beautifully into New Build Boost, it's an example where we're not waiting for someone else to do it for us. segueing beautifully into new build boost it's an example where we're not waiting for someone else to do it for us Actually, we're looking at what can we do to try to get that incremental assistance ourselves. actually we're looking at what can we do to try to get that incremental assistance ourselves New Build Boost is a good example of the self-help strategy in action, and it's incrementally helpful. new build boost is a good example of the self-help strategy in action and it's incrementally helpful By the way, so is the fact that interest rates are a little bit lower. by the way so is the fact that interest rates are a little bit lower So is the fact that the banks are lending at slightly higher multiples of income. so is the fact that the banks are lending at slightly higher multiples of income These are all incrementally helpful. these are all incrementally helpful I don't think any of them individually are an absolute silver bullet, but I think it's all helpful. i don't think any of them individually are an absolute silver bullet but i think it's all helpful What New Build Boost is doing, I mean, so clearly we're funding the 15% element of New Build Boost. what new build boost is doing i mean so clearly we're funding the 15% element of new build boost What it's doing, as Dean said earlier, is it's driving more people to site, so it's driving interest. what it's doing as dean said earlier is it's driving more people to site so it's driving interest Some people who are coming to site, I think, through the New Build Boost and through the marketing from that are then finding actually there's a traditional mortgage product which suits them, and that's entirely fine. Actually driving customers to site and then driving interest is what it's all about. New Build Boost is helpful for those people who actually their salary multiples just can't allow them to borrow enough to purchase a house. That's where the New Build Boost with the 15% interest-free element is really helpful. It's a good example of, as we say, not waiting for a government demand stimulus. If we get one, then that's great. Some people who are coming to site, I think, through the New Build Boost and through the marketing from that are then finding actually there's a traditional mortgage product which suits them, and that's entirely fine. some people who are coming to site i think through the new build boost and through the marketing from that are then finding actually there's a traditional mortgage product which suits them and that's entirely fine Actually driving customers to site and then driving interest is what it's all about. actually driving customers to site and then driving interest is what it's all about New Build Boost is helpful for those people who actually their salary multiples just can't allow them to borrow enough to purchase a house. new build boost is helpful for those people who actually their salary multiples just can't allow them to borrow enough to purchase a house That's where the New Build Boost with the 15% interest-free element is really helpful. that's where the new build boost with the 15% interest-free element is really helpful It's a good example of, as we say, not waiting for a government demand stimulus. it's a good example of as we say not waiting for a government demand stimulus If we get one, then that's great. if we get one then that's great

Speaker 2: In addition, whether some of your peers are thinking along similar lines? In addition, whether some of your peers are thinking along similar lines? in addition whether some of your peers are thinking along similar lines

Speaker 11: We are looking at other similar products as well. I don't know, Barratt referenced something in their statement in July. I think it's good that we were first to market. I think that says something about the platform that we're building, that we're first to market again with this product. We are looking at other similar products as well. we are looking at other similar products as well I don't know, Barratt referenced something in their statement in July. i don't know barratt referenced something in their statement in july I think it's good that we were first to market. i think it's good that we were first to market I think that says something about the platform that we're building, that we're first to market again with this product. i think that says something about the platform that we're building that we're first to market again with this product

Speaker 4: I think if I may just come in, there's no one silver bullet. There just isn't. It's a whole raft of things, I think. Whilst I think New Build Boost has been good for us and has helped drive people to sites, it is not what's underpinning the growth we're seeing here. There's one up front, sorry. I think if I may just come in, there's no one silver bullet. i think if i may just come in there's no one silver bullet There just isn't. there just isn't It's a whole raft of things, I think. it's a whole raft of things i think Whilst I think New Build Boost has been good for us and has helped drive people to sites, it is not what's underpinning the growth we're seeing here. whilst i think new build boost has been good for us and has helped drive people to sites it is not what's underpinning the growth we're seeing here There's one up front, sorry. there's one up front sorry

Speaker 12: Hi, thanks. It's Marcus Cole at UBS. I've got two questions as well. I'm just thinking about Charles Church. How should we think about the mix impact to ASP at a group level for 2026? The second one is just on vertical integration. You've spoken about the margin benefit on multiplications. Could you quantify this? Hi, thanks. hi thanks It's Marcus Cole at UBS. it's marcus cole at ubs I've got two questions as well. i've got two questions as well I'm just thinking about Charles Church. i'm just thinking about charles church How should we think about the mix impact to ASP at a group level for 2026? how should we think about the mix impact to asp at a group level for 2026 The second one is just on vertical integration. the second one is just on vertical integration You've spoken about the margin benefit on multiplications. you've spoken about the margin benefit on multiplications Could you quantify this? could you quantify this

Speaker 11: Yeah, I picked both of those. I mean, Marcus, without it, it is quite hard to give you that sort of ASP mix of 2026 already. Clearly, we're looking to grow Charles Church and grow Charles Church faster than the rest of the business. Clearly, that is helpful to the overall blended ASP. I think what's helpful, perhaps just by background, is that in our private ASP growth in the first half year, which was up 7%, both Persimmon Homes and Charles Church ASP grew. We saw growth in both. The ASP growth in the first half year wasn't purely because of the mix of Charles Church and Persimmon being flat. Actually, we saw growth in both markets, which is helpful, and we'll continue to look at that. As we grow Charles Church, all other things being equal, it will have access to a slight drag to ASP. Yeah, I picked both of those. yeah i picked both of those I mean, Marcus, without it, it is quite hard to give you that sort of ASP mix of 2026 already. i mean marcus without it it is quite hard to give you that sort of asp mix of 2026 already Clearly, we're looking to grow Charles Church and grow Charles Church faster than the rest of the business. clearly we're looking to grow charles church and grow charles church faster than the rest of the business Clearly, that is helpful to the overall blended ASP. clearly that is helpful to the overall blended asp I think what's helpful, perhaps just by background, is that in our private ASP growth in the first half year, which was up 7%, both Persimmon Homes and Charles Church ASP grew. i think what's helpful perhaps just by background is that in our private asp growth in the first half year which was up 7% both persimmon homes and charles church asp grew We saw growth in both. we saw growth in both The ASP growth in the first half year wasn't purely because of the mix of Charles Church and Persimmon being flat. the asp growth in the first half year wasn't purely because of the mix of charles church and persimmon being flat Actually, we saw growth in both markets, which is helpful, and we'll continue to look at that. actually we saw growth in both markets which is helpful and we'll continue to look at that As we grow Charles Church, all other things being equal, it will have access to a slight drag to ASP. as we grow charles church all other things being equal it will have access to a slight drag to asp On the flip side, of course, build-to-rent is still going to be 10%-15% of our business, and arguably that goes the other way. There are various moving parts. In terms of vertical integration, I think we talked about this earlier in the year, that is across the whole piece. If you use our own tiles and our own bricks, we know there is cost saving there, which is in the order of £2,000-£2,500 per plot compared to the open market. If you put the timber frame in, and if you include the speed of build, the overhead saving, the premium saving because of the speed of build, then you're moving a cost saving per plot up into somewhere between £5,000 and £6,000 probably over, all in. It could be significant. On the flip side, of course, build-to-rent is still going to be 10%- 15% of our business, and arguably that goes the other way. on the flip side of course build-to-rent is still going to be 10%- 15% of our business and arguably that goes the other way There are various moving parts. there are various moving parts In terms of vertical integration, I think we talked about this earlier in the year, that is across the whole piece. in terms of vertical integration i think we talked about this earlier in the year that is across the whole piece If you use our own tiles and our own bricks, we know there is cost saving there, which is in the order of £2,000- £2,500 per plot compared to the open market. if you use our own tiles and our own bricks we know there is cost saving there which is in the order of £2,000- £2,500 per plot compared to the open market If you put the timber frame in, and if you include the speed of build, the overhead saving, the premium saving because of the speed of build, then you're moving a cost saving per plot up into somewhere between £5,000 and £6,000 probably over, all in. if you put the timber frame in and if you include the speed of build the overhead saving the premium saving because of the speed of build then you're moving a cost saving per plot up into somewhere between £5,000 and £6,000 probably over all in It could be significant. it could be significant Clearly, there's some work for us to do there in terms of making sure that we drive the take-up of that, as we said earlier to Mark's question. There is real opportunity. The other piece, which is cost is clearly important, but the other piece which we should also just reference is that it gives us security of our own supply chain. It gives us control. If you think about it on bricks or tiles, 80% of our products use our own roof tiles. That means that we're in control of our own destiny there. Again, with timber frame, you need fewer people. As you grow in the business and as the sector grows, if we can deliver the same volume or more volume with fewer people on site, that is, again, very helpful. It's a cost benefit, but there's a whole range of wider benefits, I think, as well. There's two over this side. Clearly, there's some work for us to do there in terms of making sure that we drive the take-up of that, as we said earlier to Mark's question. clearly there's some work for us to do there in terms of making sure that we drive the take-up of that as we said earlier to mark's question There is real opportunity. there is real opportunity The other piece, which is cost is clearly important, but the other piece which we should also just reference is that it gives us security of our own supply chain. the other piece which is cost is clearly important but the other piece which we should also just reference is that it gives us security of our own supply chain It gives us control. it gives us control If you think about it on bricks or tiles, 80% of our products use our own roof tiles. if you think about it on bricks or tiles 80% of our products use our own roof tiles That means that we're in control of our own destiny there. that means that we're in control of our own destiny there Again, with timber frame, you need fewer people. again with timber frame you need fewer people As you grow in the business and as the sector grows, if we can deliver the same volume or more volume with fewer people on site, that is, again, very helpful. as you grow in the business and as the sector grows if we can deliver the same volume or more volume with fewer people on site that is again very helpful It's a cost benefit, but there's a whole range of wider benefits, I think, as well. it's a cost benefit but there's a whole range of wider benefits i think as well There's two over this side. there's two over this side

Speaker 8: Glynis Johnson, Jefferies, just a few sort of, almost just following ups. One, just in terms of cost controls, you mentioned it sort of almost in your first statement about the commercial, control of costs. A bit more elaboration, what are you doing? Why is it maybe different? Land intake, can you split it between strategic land conversions and actually what's been bought in the open market? Your 300 outlet count, can you remind us how much of that is coming from Charles Church? Are dual branded sites counted as two? Are they counted as one? Just so we can understand the numbers. Previously, you referenced bringing forward some of those longer sites, with its partnerships. You've talked about in terms of, you know, completions, but maybe you can talk about in terms of sites, how many of those sites have you actually done that on? Glynis Johnson, Jefferies, just a few sort of, almost just following ups. glynis johnson jefferies just a few sort of almost just following ups One, just in terms of cost controls, you mentioned it sort of almost in your first statement about the commercial, control of costs. one just in terms of cost controls you mentioned it sort of almost in your first statement about the commercial control of costs A bit more elaboration, what are you doing? a bit more elaboration what are you doing Why is it maybe different? why is it maybe different Land intake, can you split it between strategic land conversions and actually what's been bought in the open market? land intake can you split it between strategic land conversions and actually what's been bought in the open market Your 300 outlet count, can you remind us how much of that is coming from Charles Church? your 300 outlet count can you remind us how much of that is coming from charles church Are dual branded sites counted as two? are dual branded sites counted as two Are they counted as one? are they counted as one Just so we can understand the numbers. just so we can understand the numbers Previously, you referenced bringing forward some of those longer sites, with its partnerships. previously you referenced bringing forward some of those longer sites with its partnerships You've talked about in terms of, you know, completions, but maybe you can talk about in terms of sites, how many of those sites have you actually done that on? you've talked about in terms of you know completions but maybe you can talk about in terms of sites how many of those sites have you actually done that on Can you remind us of the difference between the site growth and the reported growth? You referenced the, you know, site costs, but what actually should there be there? Lastly, you referenced it just a couple of questions ago in terms of changes in lending criteria. Are you seeing that actually, at the coal face right now, or is that something you're anticipating to come through? Can you remind us of the difference between the site growth and the reported growth? can you remind us of the difference between the site growth and the reported growth You referenced the, you know, site costs, but what actually should there be there? you referenced the you know site costs but what actually should there be there Lastly, you referenced it just a couple of questions ago in terms of changes in lending criteria. lastly you referenced it just a couple of questions ago in terms of changes in lending criteria Are you seeing that actually, at the coal face right now, or is that something you're anticipating to come through? are you seeing that actually at the coal face right now or is that something you're anticipating to come through

Speaker 4: That's a lot of questions. That's a lot of questions. that's a lot of questions

Speaker 11: Just a few. Just a few. just a few

Speaker 4: Should we try and divvy those up between us? Simon's taken over Group Commercial and he's having a real impact. At the same time, through both his expertise and, frankly, sheer force of personality, he is driving a consistency in the business, which is absolutely fantastic. There is an opportunity for us there. Possible brandable losses are running in the business at about between £40 million and £50 million as we would measure them. I am confident that Simon will make a real inroad into that over the course of the coming years. He's doing that at the same time as driving digitalization in the business. He's now playing around with AI in that space. As you can imagine, I think that area is actually quite perfect for AI. I'm quite excited about the benefits. I can't give you a timeline. Should we try and divvy those up between us? should we try and divvy those up between us Simon's taken over Group Commercial and he's having a real impact. simon's taken over group commercial and he's having a real impact At the same time, through both his expertise and, frankly, sheer force of personality, he is driving a consistency in the business, which is absolutely fantastic. at the same time through both his expertise and frankly sheer force of personality he is driving a consistency in the business which is absolutely fantastic There is an opportunity for us there. there is an opportunity for us there Possible brandable losses are running in the business at about between £40 million and £50 million as we would measure them. possible brandable losses are running in the business at about between £40 million and £50 million as we would measure them I am confident that Simon will make a real inroad into that over the course of the coming years. i am confident that simon will make a real inroad into that over the course of the coming years He's doing that at the same time as driving digitalization in the business. he's doing that at the same time as driving digitalization in the business He's now playing around with AI in that space. he's now playing around with ai in that space As you can imagine, I think that area is actually quite perfect for AI. as you can imagine i think that area is actually quite perfect for ai I'm quite excited about the benefits. i'm quite excited about the benefits I can't give you a timeline. i can't give you a timeline I can't tell you where and how much, but kind of watch this space because I think there's real benefits both in terms of his expertise, his standardization, and what AI might bring us. I am actually really, really excited about that. If I dot about a bit, if that's all right with you, Andrew, I think in terms of changing, we have seen some benefit from the relaxation of, you know, from 4.5%-5.6% lending during the course of the year. I think that has clearly helped us, helped by our customer base. Very hard to put a precise number on it. We frankly just don't know. I think, as Andrew said earlier, it's one of the things that is in the mix that has helped us achieve the results that we are now achieving. I can't tell you where and how much, but kind of watch this space because I think there's real benefits both in terms of his expertise, his standardization, and what AI might bring us. i can't tell you where and how much but kind of watch this space because i think there's real benefits both in terms of his expertise his standardization and what ai might bring us I am actually really, really excited about that. i am actually really really excited about that If I dot about a bit, if that's all right with you, Andrew, I think in terms of changing, we have seen some benefit from the relaxation of, you know, from 4.5%- 5.6% lending during the course of the year. if i dot about a bit if that's all right with you andrew i think in terms of changing we have seen some benefit from the relaxation of you know from 4.5%- 5.6% lending during the course of the year I think that has clearly helped us, helped by our customer base. i think that has clearly helped us helped by our customer base Very hard to put a precise number on it. very hard to put a precise number on it We frankly just don't know. we frankly just don't know I think, as Andrew said earlier, it's one of the things that is in the mix that has helped us achieve the results that we are now achieving. i think as andrew said earlier it's one of the things that is in the mix that has helped us achieve the results that we are now achieving You can see quite clearly in our results, we are pleased with the progress we've made on pricing. That's really been the strategy this year to help us deal with embedded cost inflation and helping to drive the margin forward. I think that's really important. On partnerships, we've probably got across the group at the moment two or three. It's at that level at this stage. That may grow, but it's very much on a case-by-case basis. It's useful where it works and where we have a large site. Just your dual branding bit, that's probably contributed about two or three outlets. Net, I mean, we talked about 53, I think, in terms of Charles Church now. That was at 49 at the start of the year. So that sort of level, but it's also valid. It opens up a new market for us in the same place. They were the easy questions. You can see quite clearly in our results, we are pleased with the progress we've made on pricing. you can see quite clearly in our results we are pleased with the progress we've made on pricing That's really been the strategy this year to help us deal with embedded cost inflation and helping to drive the margin forward. that's really been the strategy this year to help us deal with embedded cost inflation and helping to drive the margin forward I think that's really important. i think that's really important On partnerships, we've probably got across the group at the moment two or three. on partnerships we've probably got across the group at the moment two or three It's at that level at this stage. it's at that level at this stage That may grow, but it's very much on a case-by-case basis. that may grow but it's very much on a case-by-case basis It's useful where it works and where we have a large site. it's useful where it works and where we have a large site Just your dual branding bit, that's probably contributed about two or three outlets. just your dual branding bit that's probably contributed about two or three outlets Net, I mean, we talked about 53, I think, in terms of Charles Church now. net i mean we talked about 53 i think in terms of charles church now That was at 49 at the start of the year. that was at 49 at the start of the year So that sort of level, but it's also valid. so that sort of level but it's also valid It opens up a new market for us in the same place. it opens up a new market for us in the same place They were the easy questions. they were the easy questions

Speaker 11: I think the other, I think there's two others. Stratland, you know, still about 40% or so of our delivery is from sites that were sourced from Stratland. In terms of the pull-through in any one period, of course, it's lumpy just because of the nature of them coming through. We have pulled through from Stratland in the first half as well. I'll have to come back to you with the exact number of plots. The completion percentage has stayed pretty stable in that 40%. In terms of the margins, it's consistent with where we've been before. Between site margin and gross margins, obviously our gross margins in a half year are about 20%. There's probably somewhere between 400 and 800 bps of difference. It depends a little because some of those costs are fixed costs. Some of those costs are variable but not related to deliveries. I think the other, I think there's two others. i think the other i think there's two others Stratland, you know, still about 40% or so of our delivery is from sites that were sourced from Stratland. stratland you know still about 40% or so of our delivery is from sites that were sourced from stratland In terms of the pull-through in any one period, of course, it's lumpy just because of the nature of them coming through. in terms of the pull-through in any one period of course it's lumpy just because of the nature of them coming through We have pulled through from Stratland in the first half as well. we have pulled through from stratland in the first half as well I'll have to come back to you with the exact number of plots. i'll have to come back to you with the exact number of plots The completion percentage has stayed pretty stable in that 40%. the completion percentage has stayed pretty stable in that 40% In terms of the margins, it's consistent with where we've been before. in terms of the margins it's consistent with where we've been before Between site margin and gross margins, obviously our gross margins in a half year are about 20%. between site margin and gross margins obviously our gross margins in a half year are about 20% There's probably somewhere between 400 and 800 bps of difference. there's probably somewhere between 400 and 800 bps of difference It depends a little because some of those costs are fixed costs. it depends a little because some of those costs are fixed costs Some of those costs are variable but not related to deliveries. some of those costs are variable but not related to deliveries Things like in terms of customer care and maintenance, that's why there's quite a wide range. I guess it's also why I drew attention to the chart of the land cost to revenue. Different companies might put different things in different buckets as they go down the P&L, but your land to revenue is probably very comparable across different companies. I think that is a useful measure as well. It shows the differences between site margin and gross margin are, as I said, things like maintenance costs, your fixed construction base, your fixed sales and marketing cost teams, as well as the variable elements of those as well. Things like in terms of customer care and maintenance, that's why there's quite a wide range. things like in terms of customer care and maintenance that's why there's quite a wide range I guess it's also why I drew attention to the chart of the land cost to revenue. i guess it's also why i drew attention to the chart of the land cost to revenue Different companies might put different things in different buckets as they go down the P&L, but your land to revenue is probably very comparable across different companies. different companies might put different things in different buckets as they go down the p&l but your land to revenue is probably very comparable across different companies I think that is a useful measure as well. i think that is a useful measure as well It shows the differences between site margin and gross margin are, as I said, things like maintenance costs, your fixed construction base, your fixed sales and marketing cost teams, as well as the variable elements of those as well. it shows the differences between site margin and gross margin are as i said things like maintenance costs your fixed construction base your fixed sales and marketing cost teams as well as the variable elements of those as well

Speaker 8: Just to be clear, some sites have double the costs as percentage points impact between sites and direct site and embedded. Going from your embedded margin that you talk about to actually your gross, what you're saying is some sites have 400 basis points, some have 800 [crosstalk]. Just to be clear, some sites have double the costs as percentage points impact between sites and direct site and embedded. just to be clear some sites have double the costs as percentage points impact between sites and direct site and embedded Going from your embedded margin that you talk about to actually your gross, what you're saying is some sites have 400 basis points, some have 800 [crosstalk]. going from your embedded margin that you talk about to actually your gross what you're saying is some sites have 400 basis points some have 800 [crosstalk]

Speaker 11: I'm saying that's across the group depending on what you said because some of those differences are fixed costs. As we move through, as the volumes change, the leverage of that difference will reduce through leverage. Things like the fixed cost of my sales and marketing team, not related to individual sites, clearly I'm absorbing that at the moment over fewer units than I absorb it over as we grow. That's why I'm saying there's a range. It's not based on individual sites, it's based on through the cycle. I'm saying that's across the group depending on what you said because some of those differences are fixed costs. i'm saying that's across the group depending on what you said because some of those differences are fixed costs As we move through, as the volumes change, the leverage of that difference will reduce through leverage. as we move through as the volumes change the leverage of that difference will reduce through leverage Things like the fixed cost of my sales and marketing team, not related to individual sites, clearly I'm absorbing that at the moment over fewer units than I absorb it over as we grow. things like the fixed cost of my sales and marketing team not related to individual sites clearly i'm absorbing that at the moment over fewer units than i absorb it over as we grow That's why I'm saying there's a range. that's why i'm saying there's a range It's not based on individual sites, it's based on through the cycle. it's not based on individual sites it's based on through the cycle

Speaker 8: What are you buying sites for? What is, when you're putting, what is the long-term assumption in terms of the difference between the site and the reported gross? What are you buying sites for? what are you buying sites for What is, when you're putting, what is the long-term assumption in terms of the difference between the site and the reported gross? what is when you're putting what is the long-term assumption in terms of the difference between the site and the reported gross

Speaker 4: Right, which is why we have an industry-leading margin. Right, these two here. Right, which is why we have an industry-leading margin. right which is why we have an industry-leading margin Right, these two here. right these two here

Speaker 1: Morning, Sam Cullen from Peel Hunt. I've got two. They're both related to the vertical integration piece. You’ve mentioned that you want to improve the take-up. What is the take-up now? At what point does it really start to make a difference on the cost saving? What's the tipping point? Secondly, related to the cost savings, you've articulated those, but is it truly margin accretive from where we stand? If we forget the unwind of the build cost inflation over the last few years, net net, will this actually improve margin or is it a relative advantage that the counterfactual HPI will grow at 1% or 2% and build cost inflation might grow at 3% or 4%? It's just going to offset that negative spread medium term. Morning, Sam Cullen from Peel Hunt. morning sam cullen from peel hunt I've got two. i've got two They're both related to the vertical integration piece. they're both related to the vertical integration piece You’ve mentioned that you want to improve the take-up. you’ve mentioned that you want to improve the take-up What is the take-up now? what is the take-up now At what point does it really start to make a difference on the cost saving? at what point does it really start to make a difference on the cost saving What's the tipping point? what's the tipping point Secondly, related to the cost savings, you've articulated those, but is it truly margin accretive from where we stand? secondly related to the cost savings you've articulated those but is it truly margin accretive from where we stand If we forget the unwind of the build cost inflation over the last few years, net net, will this actually improve margin or is it a relative advantage that the counterfactual HPI will grow at 1% or 2% and build cost inflation might grow at 3% or 4%? if we forget the unwind of the build cost inflation over the last few years net net will this actually improve margin or is it a relative advantage that the counterfactual hpi will grow at 1% or 2% and build cost inflation might grow at 3% or 4% It's just going to offset that negative spread medium term. it's just going to offset that negative spread medium term

Speaker 4: Let me divide your first question in two parts, between brick and tile and between timber frame. When I started five years ago, the take-up of our brick was less than 10% within the business because it was an unpopular product within the company. Now it's well over 50% and it's growing. Two things have happened there. We've invested in the brick itself to improve its quality, so that's dealt with concerns. We've also improved its aesthetics, which means now that when you go to planning authorities, it's a more attractive product and is taken up. Frankly, I think for many of our developments, it's now really pretty good and it sits very well and it's as good as many clay products. I'm very happy with what we've done with bricks. Let me divide your first question in two parts, between brick and tile and between timber frame. let me divide your first question in two parts between brick and tile and between timber frame When I started five years ago, the take-up of our brick was less than 10% within the business because it was an unpopular product within the company. when i started five years ago the take-up of our brick was less than 10% within the business because it was an unpopular product within the company Now it's well over 50% and it's growing. now it's well over 50% and it's growing Two things have happened there. two things have happened there We've invested in the brick itself to improve its quality, so that's dealt with concerns. we've invested in the brick itself to improve its quality so that's dealt with concerns We've also improved its aesthetics, which means now that when you go to planning authorities, it's a more attractive product and is taken up. we've also improved its aesthetics which means now that when you go to planning authorities it's a more attractive product and is taken up Frankly, I think for many of our developments, it's now really pretty good and it sits very well and it's as good as many clay products. frankly i think for many of our developments it's now really pretty good and it sits very well and it's as good as many clay products I'm very happy with what we've done with bricks. i'm very happy with what we've done with bricks The problem we've got at the moment is we've got excessive demand over our production capabilities, which is why we've moved to 24/7 and why we're going to have to put a new line in. It does give us cost savings and they do contribute to our margin and I think they will continue to do so in the future. It's not just about security of supply, although I think that's really important. It shields us from cost increases and contributes to the cost advantage I think we have. In terms of timber frame, we've got at the moment just over half the business takes up our timber frame. As we said in the presentation, another seven are within the business, another seven regions are taking up this year and another seven I think will take it up next year, which means it will be across the business then. The problem we've got at the moment is we've got excessive demand over our production capabilities, which is why we've moved to 24/7 and why we're going to have to put a new line in. the problem we've got at the moment is we've got excessive demand over our production capabilities which is why we've moved to 24/7 and why we're going to have to put a new line in It does give us cost savings and they do contribute to our margin and I think they will continue to do so in the future. it does give us cost savings and they do contribute to our margin and i think they will continue to do so in the future It's not just about security of supply, although I think that's really important. it's not just about security of supply although i think that's really important It shields us from cost increases and contributes to the cost advantage I think we have. it shields us from cost increases and contributes to the cost advantage i think we have In terms of timber frame, we've got at the moment just over half the business takes up our timber frame. in terms of timber frame we've got at the moment just over half the business takes up our timber frame As we said in the presentation, another seven are within the business, another seven regions are taking up this year and another seven I think will take it up next year, which means it will be across the business then. as we said in the presentation another seven are within the business another seven regions are taking up this year and another seven i think will take it up next year which means it will be across the business then There I think it will contribute to, it will do both of what you said, it will shield us from costs, but I believe it will contribute to a real accretion to margin as well because we'll ask it to turn. You can build faster by about 10 weeks. Yes, there's an incremental cost, although actually very interesting if you do it right, that incremental cost is pre-marginal now. I think we can bear down on that further. I am really excited about the opportunity that will bring. As I said to you earlier, we've got this problem at the moment within the business. It's actually where we can sell fastest, we build slowest. If we can pivot into that, which is what we're doing, I think that's really, really, really good. Just one here. There I think it will contribute to, it will do both of what you said, it will shield us from costs, but I believe it will contribute to a real accretion to margin as well because we'll ask it to turn. there i think it will contribute to it will do both of what you said it will shield us from costs but i believe it will contribute to a real accretion to margin as well because we'll ask it to turn You can build faster by about 10 weeks. you can build faster by about 10 weeks Yes, there's an incremental cost, although actually very interesting if you do it right, that incremental cost is pre-marginal now. yes there's an incremental cost although actually very interesting if you do it right that incremental cost is pre-marginal now I think we can bear down on that further. i think we can bear down on that further I am really excited about the opportunity that will bring. i am really excited about the opportunity that will bring As I said to you earlier, we've got this problem at the moment within the business. as i said to you earlier we've got this problem at the moment within the business It's actually where we can sell fastest, we build slowest. it's actually where we can sell fastest we build slowest If we can pivot into that, which is what we're doing, I think that's really, really, really good. if we can pivot into that which is what we're doing i think that's really really really good Just one here. just one here

Speaker 7: Thanks very much. Charlie Campbell with Stifel, just two quick ones, I think. Of your 277 sites, how many could take a Charles Church outlet? Just give us an idea on that. Could you say something about part exchange that's gone up in the first half? Just wondering kind of what trends look like on that side. Thanks very much. thanks very much Charlie Campbell with Stifel , just two quick ones, I think. charlie campbell with stifel just two quick ones i think Of your 277 sites, how many could take a Charles Church outlet? of your 277 sites how many could take a charles church outlet Just give us an idea on that. just give us an idea on that Could you say something about part exchange that's gone up in the first half? could you say something about part exchange that's gone up in the first half Just wondering kind of what trends look like on that side. just wondering kind of what trends look like on that side

Speaker 4: It's picked up a little bit, but I mean it's not huge. The PX, I think it's about 24% of what we're doing now. It's picked up a little bit, but I mean it's not huge. it's picked up a little bit but i mean it's not huge The PX, I think it's about 24% of what we're doing now. the px i think it's about 24% of what we're doing now

Speaker 11: Yeah, it is. The important thing, by the way, Charlie, is that most of those units that were on the balance sheet as at the 30th of June were already reserved at the 30th of June. They're working through, so we are turning it quickly. It is an important tool. Yeah, it's moved a little bit, but I think it will bubble around that sort of 20, low 20%. Yeah, it is. yeah it is The important thing, by the way, Charlie, is that most of those units that were on the balance sheet as at the 30th of June were already reserved at the 30th of June. the important thing by the way charlie, is that most of those units that were on the balance sheet as at the 30th of june were already reserved at the 30th of june They're working through, so we are turning it quickly. they're working through so we are turning it quickly It is an important tool. it is an important tool Yeah, it's moved a little bit, but I think it will bubble around that sort of 20, low 20%. yeah it's moved a little bit but i think it will bubble around that sort of 20 low 20%

Speaker 4: We'll sort of break even on it or make a modest, you know, cover our costs. It consumes cash, but you have to do it, you know, is where it is. I guess on Charles Church, it's not so much on what we've got at the moment. It's what are the opportunities? I think they're probably pretty well established. It's what are the opportunities for what's in the land bank and new land opportunities that come to us on the market as well. That's what is underpinning our ambitions to double it over the course of the next few years to go from, you know, 10% of the business to 20% of the business. No more hands up. Thank you very much for your time and interest this morning. We'll sort of break even on it or make a modest, you know, cover our costs. we'll sort of break even on it or make a modest you know cover our costs It consumes cash, but you have to do it, you know, is where it is. it consumes cash but you have to do it you know is where it is I guess on Charles Church, it's not so much on what we've got at the moment. i guess on charles church it's not so much on what we've got at the moment It's what are the opportunities? it's what are the opportunities I think they're probably pretty well established. i think they're probably pretty well established It's what are the opportunities for what's in the land bank and new land opportunities that come to us on the market as well. it's what are the opportunities for what's in the land bank and new land opportunities that come to us on the market as well That's what is underpinning our ambitions to double it over the course of the next few years to go from, you know, 10% of the business to 20% of the business. that's what is underpinning our ambitions to double it over the course of the next few years to go from you know 10% of the business to 20% of the business No more hands up. no more hands up Thank you very much for your time and interest this morning. thank you very much for your time and interest this morning If I can just say a few words to sum up, look, I think the business is in really, really good shape. It's good fun. We are pushing on with our plans and we're not waiting around for events. We're looking to build structural benefits for ourselves. Some of the benefits I think you can see coming through in these results. Other things being equal, we're good for guidance in 2025. We'll see good profit growth in 2025 and good profit growth again in 2026. Finally, you know, our cladding position I think is really important. As you tell, ripping these buildings apart, it's not pretty and there's lots of costs. Getting through it is really, really important as quickly as possible. I think we're in a good place. Thank you very much. If I can just say a few words to sum up, look, I think the business is in really, really good shape. if i can just say a few words to sum up look i think the business is in really really good shape It's good fun. it's good fun We are pushing on with our plans and we're not waiting around for events. we are pushing on with our plans and we're not waiting around for events We're looking to build structural benefits for ourselves. we're looking to build structural benefits for ourselves Some of the benefits I think you can see coming through in these results. some of the benefits i think you can see coming through in these results Other things being equal, we're good for guidance in 2025. other things being equal we're good for guidance in 2025 We'll see good profit growth in 2025 and good profit growth again in 2026. we'll see good profit growth in 2025 and good profit growth again in 2026 Finally, you know, our cladding position I think is really important. finally you know our cladding position i think is really important As you tell, ripping these buildings apart, it's not pretty and there's lots of costs. as you tell ripping these buildings apart it's not pretty and there's lots of costs Getting through it is really, really important as quickly as possible. getting through it is really really important as quickly as possible I think we're in a good place. i think we're in a good place Thank you very much. thank you very much