Persimmon plc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Persimmon plc | |
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| Type | Public (LSE: PSN) |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | York, England, UK |
| Key people | John White, Executive Chairman Mike Farley, CEO |
| Industry | Housebuilding |
| Revenue | £3,014.9 million (2007) |
| Operating income | £657.3 million (2007) |
| Net income | £413.5 million (2007) |
| Employees | 4,349 (2006) |
| Website | www.persimmonhomes.com |
Persimmon plc (LSE: PSN) is one of the largest British housebuilding companies and is head quartered in York, England, at a building called Persimmon House. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, being the largest UK house builder by market capitalisation. It is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales.
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[edit] Today
Persimmon is the UK's third largest house builder by volume, after Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey. It builds about 16,700 homes per year under the Persimmon, Charles Church and Westbury Partnerships brands.
Persimmon's turnover for the year to 31 December 2007 was £3,014.9 million. Profits were £582.7 million before tax.
[edit] History
Persimmon was established by Duncan Davidson in 1972 and acquired a full stock exchange listing in 1985. It has a history of growing through large scale acquisitions, as opposed to growing organically. Persimmon only operates in the UK. It builds at a wide range of price levels, and owns Charles Church, which is the most well known builder of high end executive houses.
[edit] Acquisition of Beazer Homes UK
In 2001 it acquired Beazer Homes UK, for £537.5m, which was then the largest house builder in the UK. The offer was comprised of 109p in cash and 0.3086 New Persimmon Shares for each Beazer share held, valuing the group at 188p per share.
The deal came about after Beazer and Bryant announced a 'merger of equals' to create a new house builder called Domus. However, Taylor Woodrow stepped in with a £556m bid for Bryant, and Persimmon bought Beazer, a company named after its founder Brian Beazer, and orginally started in Bath.
The acquisition of Beazer brought with it Britain's most upmarket house builder, Charles Church. Charles Church was founded by Charles and Sussana Church in 1965.
Charles Church tragically passed away in a helicopter accident, and the Church family sold the business.
[edit] Acquisition of Westbury plc
In January 2006 Persimmon acquired Westbury plc, another listed UK house builder, for a total consideration of £643 million.
The main Westbury brand has since been integrated into the core Persimmon brand, although Westbury Partnerships has been retained.
[edit] Management
Following changes to its Board in April 2006 the company is headed by Executive Chairman, John White, Group Chief Executive, Mike Farley, Group Finance Director, Mike Killoran and Group Development Director, David Bryant.
