| Type | Public (LSE: PSN) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Housebuilding |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Headquarters | York, England |
| Key people | Nicholas Wrigley, Chairman Mike Farley, CEO |
| Revenue | £1,569.5 million (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | £124.1 million (2010)[1] |
| Net income | £115.3 million (2010)[1] |
| Employees | 2,414 (2010)[1] |
| Website | www.persimmonhomes.com |
Persimmon plc (LSE: PSN) is a British housebuilding company, headquartered in York, England, at a building called Persimmon House. The Company is named after a horse which won the 1896 Derby and St. Leger for the Prince of Wales. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index as of 23 June 2008.[2]
Contents |
Persimmon was founded by Duncan Davidson in 1972. After leaving George Wimpey, Davidson had formed Ryedale Homes in 1965, selling it to Comben in 1972 for £600,000. Davidson restarted development again in the Yorkshire area; Persimmon began to expand regionally with the formation of an Anglian division in 1976 followed by operations in the midlands and the south-west.[3] In 1984, Persimmon bought Tony Fawcett’s Sketchmead company; Fawcett had been a director of Ryedale and he became deputy managing director at Persimmon. The enlarged company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1985, by which time the Company was building around 1,000 houses a year.[4] Steady regional expansion took volumes up to 2,000 by 1988 with a target of 4,000 following the housing recession. Tony Fawcett had died in 1990 and in 1993 John White was appointed as chief executive with Davidson remaining as an executive chairman. In 1995, Persimmon made the first of a series of major acquisitions. Ideal Homes, once the largest housebuilder in the country and then part of Trafalgar House was bought for £176m. giving the Group a much stronger presence in the south east. This was followed by the purchase of the Scottish housing business of John Laing plc and Tilbury Douglas Homes. [3]
In 2001 Persimmon acquired Beazer Homes UK, for £612m, taking output to over 12,000 a year.[3] The deal came about after Beazer and Bryant announced a 'merger of equals' to create a new house builder called Domus.[5] However, Taylor Woodrow stepped in with a £556 million bid for Bryant, and Persimmon bought Beazer, a company named after its founder Brian Beazer, and originally started in Bath. The acquisition of Beazer brought with it Charles Church, a business founded by Charles and Sussana Church in 1965.[6]
In January 2006 Persimmon acquired Westbury plc, another listed UK house builder, for a total consideration of £643 million.[7]
It builds homes under the Persimmon homes, Charles Church and Westbury Partnerships brands.[8]
Persimmon has regularly come in for criticism due to poor build quality on a number of their homes. Examples include wiring up sockets dangerously giving the potential to shock, installing wobbly bannisters, laying turf on builder's rubble rather than on newly laid soil and radiators not properly fixed to the wall. [9] [10] [11] [12]
|
||||||||