persimmon plc annual report december 2005
wh ere the h eart is
annual report december 2005
10549 ra 2005 cover  20306  1204  page 1 notice
notice is here
of persimmon plc 
on thursday 20 ap
purposes
1to receive and ad
statements for th
2to declare a fina
to reelect the follo
reelection
3john white
4hamish leslie m
5david thompso
to elect the followi
annual general me
6adam applegart
7nicholas wrigley
8to reappoint kp
conclusion of th
directors to dete
9to approve the d
december 2005
10 to pass the foll
that the compa
market purchase
act 1985 of ord
provided that
a this authority
which may be ac
aggregate of 295
or at the conclus
except in relatio
was concluded b
would or might b
b the maximum
more than 5 ab
derived from the
immediately pre
minimum price 
maximum and m
by order of the boa
neil francis 
group company s
registered office
persimmon house 
fulford
y ork yo19 4fe
20 march 2006
£180892
average selling price
5 
£5278m
profit from operations
6
£4954m
profit before tax 
6
1184p
basic earnings per share
4
31p
dividend per share
13
01 financial highlights
02 chairman’s statement
07 chief executive’s review
15 financial review
26 board of directors 
30 divisional boards
31 directors’ report
33 statement of directors’
responsibilities
36 remuneration report
43 corporate responsibility
44 corporate governance
47 report of the independent
auditors to the shareholders of
persimmon plc
48 consolidated income statement
49 consolidated balance sheet
50 company balance sheet
51 consolidated cash flow
statement
52 company cash flow statement
53 consolidated statement of
recognised income and expense
54 company statement of
recognised income and expense
55 notes to the financial statements
81 group transition to ifrss
84 company transition to ifrss
86 shareholder information
87 directory
90 persimmon plc directors 
 company information
91 six year record
92 financial calendar
ibc notice of annual general
meeting
10549 ra 2005 cover  20306  1212  page 2 01 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
doing w e ll
persimmon is the uks leading housebuilder
w e built over 12000 homes last year on more than
400 sites this means that we offer the widest choice
of quality new homes in the greatest number of
quality locations throughout the uk w e aim to
provide the highest levels of design construction 
and service so however you live your life youll 
feel more at home with persimmon
profit from operations £m
∆

Summary:
 07 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
chief executive’s review
overview
it gives me great pleasure in my final chief executive’s 
review before i become chairman to be able to report on
another record set of results for persimmon this is especially
so because as commented upon widely 2005 was a most
challenging year for the industry
during the year the market was characterised by uncertainty
and a general lack of confidence amongst potential purchasers
due to concerns over house price stability
at persimmon we were able to respond to these more
demanding conditions in a number of ways we started 2005
with a good forward order book despite a relatively quiet
autumn period in 2004 we had ensured that we had increased
outlets for marketing during the early months of 2005 and
continued to focus on forward selling ahead of construction 
on all our sites during this important sales period
we also ensured that through our local teams we remained
flexible with the type specification and price range of homes
we were offering to the market through this process we
experienced a greater demand in some areas for lower priced
properties in preference to some of our mid price range homes
which in some regions resulted in an increase in volumes at a
reduced average selling price
core housing completions were 11350 2004 11273 
and charles church completions for the year were 1286 
2004 1087 giving total completions for the group of
12636 2004 12360 the group’s average selling price
increase of 5 reflects these changes of mix as well as some
real price growth in summary we believe we demonstrated
our resilience in tougher market conditions
north
this division completed 4962 units slightly down on 
2004 offset by a 5 increase in average selling price to
£162737 from £154287 whilst the strongest region during
2005 was scotland the performance of all regions in the 
north division was satisfactory
our focus on maintaining a good spread of product across the
mid to lower end of the range has once again stood us in good
stead whilst the market was undoubtedly tougher in the north
the relatively low level of average selling price has ensured that
we have performed well
south
the south division performed well once again increasing the
number of completions to 6388 from 6187 in 2004 average
selling price increased by only 1 during 2005 this was partly
due to a shift to more smaller homes as we responded to local
market requirements our western region for example which
covers south wales and the south west of england performed
particularly well with increased completions of 15 to 2503
2004 2183 at a reduced average selling price of £178988
2004 £183768 this was achieved by ensuring that the
appropriate product mix was available to the market
charles church
this brand continued to increase its coverage of the uk
the investments we have made both in management time 
and financial commitment have established a strong platform
for growth during 2005 we increased volumes by 18 to
1286 homes 2004 1087 average selling price also increased
by 11 to £283260 2004 £254810 there are many sites in
the westbury portfolio that are particularly well suited to the
charles church product which will result in a step change in
the volumes achieved in this business over the next few years
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1159  page 07 08 persimmon plc annual report 2005 chief executive’s review
build
once again we experienced an increase in our build costs in 
all areas of our business whilst we originally expected
significant pressure on material costs in the event we were 
able to keep these increases to a minimum pressure on labour
price increases were also resisted reasonably well undoubtedly
our scale of business and the continuity we are able to offer 
to our preferred suppliers and contractors is an advantage in
this respect as a result total build cost increases were similar 
to the previous year at c 4
landbank
whilst we continued to exercise discipline and caution
regarding the replacement of our landbank we were able 
to increase the number of plots owned and under control 
to 63336 plots 2004 59947 plots including c 800 plots 
from the senator homes purchase our plot cost to selling
price ratio is 193 2004 191
additionally we had c 19000 acres of strategic land owned 
or under option this portfolio continues to successfully
deliver c 25 of the new plots we acquire each year this year
was no exception with specific successes in yorkshire 1200
plots at bracknell 750 plots bridgwater 750 plots and
peterborough 1150 plots we continue to invest in this 
aspect of our business and are confident that it will be a 
source of further significant successes in the short medium
and long term
following the acquisition of westbury we now have over
78000 plots owned and under control in the enlarged 
group representing c 4
1
 2 years supply in addition to a total 
of c 25000 acres in our strategic land portfolio the westbury
strategic land portfolio of c 6000 acres has many interesting
and exciting opportunities to develop over future years
westbury integration
as referred to in the chairman’s statement we have
successfully completed the initial stages of the integration 
of westbury
all acquired sites were rebranded immediately to either
persimmon or charles church this was an important factor
in establishing the appropriate background for the enlarged
group which will ensure the ongoing successful integration 
of the acquired business
in the five weeks we have owned the business we have closed
eight of the ten westbury offices we have also consulted fully
with all affected office based staff resulting in c 500 leaving the
company we have retained the appropriate number of high
quality senior managers and office staff whilst at site level there
have been no significant staffing changes we are currently
reviewing site layouts designs mix of product and
specifications in order to maximise the development potential
on all the acquired developments
our task is also to ensure that build costs are improved on 
the westbury sites by capturing improved procurement and
subcontractor costs this process is at an early stage due to 
the phasing of construction works but is already producing
success
all these efforts will ensure we maximise the synergy benefits
on integrating westbury into the enlarged group which we
believe will be c £25 million in 2006 and c £40 million in each
year from 2007 onwards we estimate that we will incur oneoff
costs of integration of c £12 million in achieving our plans at
this stage
we have maintained the westbury partnerships brand to
provide a focus on working with the government in its 
efforts to increase the supply of affordable homes we have set
up a small specialist and dedicated team at the westbury
partnerships office in gloucester to drive this business 
forward over future years
the space4 manufacturing business represents a good
opportunity to work more closely with westbury partnerships
and the government’s agenda regarding modern methods of
construction we believe that given the volume of homes
produced by the enlarged persimmon group and by working
closely with specialist westbury partnerships we can begin to
make good progress with space4
the only other exwestbury office to remain open is in 
south wales which becomes the new charles church wales
office this brings the total number of charles church
businesses to ten
in order to ensure the successful management of the enlarged
business which we expect to deliver c 17000 units per annum
after 2006 we have restructured our divisional management 
to create an additional “central” region we have increased our
divisions from two to three namely central north and south
we now have the management in place to deliver further
growth as and when the market conditions are supportive
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1159  page 08 09 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
above
the village cottam preston
right
anchor mills paisley 
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1159  page 09 10 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
a t t e ntion t o …
w e understand that attention to detail
makes a home all of our houses are
individually tailored for each customer 
to the highest standards
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1159  page 10 11 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1200  page 11 12 persimmon plc annual report 2005 chief executive’s review
david thornton aged 48 who until recently was deputy 
chief executive for the south division working closely with
mike farley is now divisional chief executive for the central
division david has had a number of roles with persimmon in
his 14 years with the group the north is led by jeff fairburn
aged 39 previously managing director and regional chairman
of the north east with 16 years experience with persimmon
the new south division will be under the leadership of nigel
greenaway aged 45 nigel has recently been a managing
director and regional chairman for persimmon in south
midlands and has 19 years experience with the group
this management structure will ensure that we continue to
drive the enlarged business forward whilst maintaining our
ability and focus on quick decision making at local levels
current trading outlook
in the eight weeks since the beginning of this year we have
detected an increase in purchasers’ confidence and the ability
and desire to buy a new home
visitor levels have been good and new reservations have been
encouraging whilst it is too early in the new year to predict
the market it is nevertheless a good start to the year
we are continuing to be realistic about price expectations to
ensure satisfactory levels of sales are achieved our part
exchange scheme continues to support sales whilst we have
seen a reduction in the use of incentives in some areas
our current total sales at over 7000 homes with a value of c
£125 billion at an average selling price of £178500 are at a
level we would expect and gives us confidence for the year as
we enter the start of the most important sales period for new
homes we expect to open over 300 new developments during
2006 which will provide good support to our sales activity
throughout the year
corporate responsibility
we have made good progress with regard to matters
concerning our corporate responsibility improvements have
been made in all areas especially in training of our staff
environmental issues and health and safety
the group continues to support the development of new
talent in the industry and this year we were awarded “best
training and staff initiative” at the housebuilding innovation
awards recognising our commitment to training at apprentice
school leaver and graduate level
our corporate responsibility report which gives more details
on all these issues within our business can be viewed on our
website wwwpersimmonhomescom
summary
we are pleased to have achieved such a strong result for the
group for 2005 however our efforts and focus are now very
much concentrated on looking forward successfully
integrating the westbury acquisition and continuing to 
achieve further success
we have an experienced team great landbank proven track
record and a commitment to succeed we also have a strong
sales position the appropriate level of investment in land and
work in progress in all parts of the uk and great benefits of
scale which we can utilise to support our margins we are
therefore in an excellent position for the future
i am certain that the commitment we have amongst our staff
at all levels both new and longserving will ensure that we
continue to achieve the best possible results whatever market
conditions we encounter over future years
i know that mike farley who becomes group chief executive
following the agm on 20 april 2006 and our team will
continue to grow the business with great success
john white group chief executive
27 february 2006
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1200  page 12 13 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
our finishing touches distinguish
us from our competitors
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1200  page 13 14 persimmon plc annual report 2005 
our show homes give customers
visions of how their homes 
could look
10549 ra 2005 front  20306  1200  page 14