We would love to hear your thoughts about our site and services, please take our survey here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Gone at last!
nearly there ?
target is 2200p.
Still stuck in here arrgh!
interim dividend payment 19 April L and G went below 3% shares limit.Also general stickiness in housebuilders this week responding to various worries etc.No probs. just patience required.
BKG has a good chart.My short term buy signal the 5 day moving average crossing the 20 day was on April 15th.Volume is better than earlier in the year.MACD rising and around the huge value of 30.Yes relative strength is below 60% now.I was in this in the early 00's and got special dividends ending up getting 1 to 1 return of cash.These kinds of things are on offer again from TP though I'm just passing through this time hopefully.
.
moving up nicely,hopefully might reach 2200p soon..GL.Doesn't seem very noisy this board lol.
Berkeley Group: Liberum Capital revises target price from 1550p to 2000p and downgrades to hold.
Berkeley's bosses aim to return the £1.7bn - mostly in three tranches in September of 2015, 2018 and 2021 (the forthcoming interim is classified as £20m of the first tranche) - without any damage to the group's balance sheet. In other words, come September 2021 shareholders will have received their dividends equating to an annual yield of about 8.5 per cent and will still own a business underpinned by at least £9 per share of net assets, most likely a lot more. It seems like a 'no brainer' for patient investors
The land bank now comprises 26,370 plots, which Berkeley reckons is worth £2.76bn. And the aim is to bring this up to £3bn by April 2014. Notable purchases in the first half include the former News International site in Wapping for £150m; the plan is to turn the 15-acre site into over 1,000 homes, right on the fringes of the City of London with a waterfront setting. The delivery of current schemes continues to focus on Berkeley’s seven major projects in London, although management warns that difficulties in establishing exact delivery dates could lead to revenues being a bit lumpy. This year, for example, will benefit from the completion of the development at Chelsea Creek, but no other major completions are anticipated in the period. Meanwhile, building costs have risen and overheads jumped 37 per cent to £55m. However, a change in the product mix meant that gross margins rose from 28.8 per cent to 29.3 per cent, while overheads as a percentage of gross income actually fell from 9.9 per cent to 8 per cent.
Berkeley also provides down-to-earth accommodation for students, recently finishing a 730-bedroom scheme in Acton. True, a downturn in the housing market in London and the south-east would hit the group, but current trends suggest that this is not about to happen. In fact, business is booming. Pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of October grew 41 per cent to £142m, and management claims a return on equity of 24.5 per cent. Underlying operating profit margins are the best in the sector at 19.6 per cent, and net asset value rose by 11 per cent to 929p. Berkeley's bosses also feel they can make a start on that £13-per-share cash-back - Berkeley will pay a 15p dividend next April. Their confidence reflects the significant amount of cash due on forward sales of over £1.3bn. Moreover, despite investing £202m securing 1,965 new plots - that’s an average cost per plot of £103,000 - cash inflow of £52m meant that in the past 12 months net debt has fallen from £58m to a nominal £5.5m. Paying over £100,000 per plot of land may seem a lot, but in the first half of the year sales rose from 1,506 a year earlier to 1,927, and the average selling price jumped from £254,000 to £335,000, boosted by a change in the mix of completions to more expensive homes.
Shares in Berkeley (BKG) command the biggest premium over net asset value of all the quoted housebuilders, but they still look worth buying. That's because of Berkeley's potential to return cash to its shareholders. It has promised to pay them £13 a share by September 2021 (most of it from 2015 onwards). In crude terms, that works out at 144p a year for the next nine years, equivalent to an annual yield of 8.5 per cent. True, a lot can happen over the next nine years, but it is a measure of Berkeley's quality that, since the start of the financial crash, it has not had to devalue its land bank, has virtually no debt and didn’t tap shareholders for more capital. Chairman Tony Pidgely has seen it all during his 44 years in house building, and has carved out a successful business model in the housing sector. The beauty is in its simplicity - buy brown-field sites close to London and build expensive flats. Even in relatively unfashionable areas, such as Woolwich Arsenal, the plan has worked well, with many overseas buyers purchasing off plan. And the group has undoubtedly benefited from the Olympic Games because these helped to turn an unfashionable part of East London into an acceptable place to buy a property.
Berkeley Group: UBS raises target price from 1710p to 1930p keeping its buy recommendation. Deutsche Bank raises target price from 1764p to 1925p and maintains a buy rating. Credit Suisse raises target price from 1628p to 1755p and reiterates a neutral rating. Citigroup raises target price from 1760p to 1815p and downgrades to neutral.
Panmure Gordon has raised its target price for house builder Berkeley Group from 1,390p to 1,650p, saying that first-half profits were "ahead of what we were looking for at this stage". However, a 'hold' rating on the stock was maintained by Panmure, with the broker saying that the shares look "up with events".
Berkeley Group: Northland Capital raises target price from 1650p to 1750p, while keeping a buy rating.
Berkeley Group: HSBC raises target price from 1560p to 2010p, while maintaining an overweight rating.
Berkeley Group: JP Morgan raises target price from 1616p to 1620p, overweight rating kept.
Berkeley Group: Goldman Sachs upgrades to conviction buy, target lifted from 1,950p to 2,200p.
In the Times, Tempus ponders the “paradox” of the lack of demand for housing and the high dividends that Persimmon, Galliford Try and Berkeley Group are handing investors. The answer is all three have a large part of their future developments sited in the prosperous south east of England and Berkeley and Persimmon have enough land to last them for up to eight and a half years. Berkeley in particular has seven significant London developments in the pipeline and trades at an industry leading 1.5 times net assets. Tempus thinks that’s about right: "hold".
Market conditions continue to remain resilient with London benefitting from its World Class status which has been enhanced by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. Limited supply of quality new housing, particularly in the best locations in London and the South East, continues to provide strong support for house prices despite the underlying economic conditions and lack of feelgood factor. Housing has to become a national priority, not just for Government but for the whole country. This does require the presumption in favour of sustainable development within the NPPF to be enforced. Housing can also be part of the economic recovery as every home built by Berkeley creates some 3.5 jobs alongside the associated benefits of affordable housing, infrastructure improvements, creating fantastic new homes and vibrant places. The Government has a vital role to play in stimulating investment by creating a stable, consistent and transparent platform to allow housing to be developed, however the changes in planning and the consultation on the taxation of residential properties have introduced uncertainties for businesses such as Berkeley. Consequently, this is expected to lead to lower levels of investment in housebuilding generally. This means for Berkeley that we will maintain a strong and flexible balance sheet while investing more selectively in land and construction and therefore expect to be cash generative in the first half. As previously announced, Victoria Mitchell, the Non-Executive Deputy Chairman is today stepping down from the Board after ten years of continuous service and I would like to thank Victoria for her significant contribution to the Group over this time."
Interim Management Statement Period from 1 May 2012 to 31 August 2012 5 September 2012 At The Berkeley Group Holdings plc ("Berkeley's") Annual General Meeting being held today, the Chairman, Tony Pidgley, will make the following Interim Management Statement which covers the period from 1 May 2012 to 31 August 2012. "Berkeley has set a clear long term operational strategy to return £13 per share to shareholders by 2021 and to maintain the balance sheet at a similar level as at 30 April 2011. Berkeley remains on target to achieve this. Trading for the period has been in line with the Board's expectations. In addition, the completion of 149 properties at Grosvenor Waterside in the period, out of the 185 remaining properties which had previously been forecast to be delivered over the next three years, has benefitted earnings in the current year which are currently anticipated to be at the top end of analysts' expectations. All these properties were paid for in full at the year end and no additional cash will be generated by the business from the acceleration of these sales. Berkeley has acquired three sites since the beginning of the year, predominantly on deferred terms, in Wapping, Hammersmith and Chiswick, and is on target to achieve its aim of growing the value of the potential gross margin in its land holdings to £3 billion by April 2014.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201209050700085021L
Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) announced that it expects full year earnings to be at the top end of analyst expectations, having completed 149 of the 185 properties at the Grosvenor Waterside development which were previously planned to be delivered over the next three years. The housebuilder noted that prices in London have remained strong despite the economic downturn, due to high demand and limited supply of high end properties. Berkeley shares edged up by 8p to 1,498p.
House builder Berkeley Group has its annual general meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, and although things have gone quiet of late in terms of shareholders grumbling about excessive executive remuneration, broker Northland Capital Partners thinks there may be some questions asked about the long-term incentive plan (LTIP) agreed at last year's AGM. "Whilst the rewards to shareholders are clear with the £13 per share capital return by September 2021, there have been negative comments on the maximum potential LTIP that would confer £280m worth of shares to the directors at the current share price on completion of the £1.7bn capital return and full compliance with the LTIP terms. More importantly, the group has achieved further sales success during the summer with several new sites and phases on existing sites being marketed. These achievements should be a feature of the trading statement expected with the AGM," Northland said.