UK's Berkeley Group Sticks to Fiscal 2026 Outlook as First-half Profit Beat Expectations

05:55 AM EST, 12/10/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Berkeley Group (BKG.L) reiterated its pretax profit guidance for fiscal 2026 as it reported better-than-expected results for the first half of the year amid a "very challenging" macroeconomic and regulatory environment in the UK. The British property developer and housebuilder said Wednesday it remains on track to hit its pretax profit target of 450 million pounds sterling for the current fiscal year and expects to reach a similar level in fiscal 2027. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha forecast a profit before tax of 457 million pounds and 461 million pounds, respectively, for the said years. For the six months ended Oct. 31, 2025, the group's profit before tax came in at 254 million pounds, lower than the year-ago 275.1 million pounds but above the Visible Alpha-compiled consensus estimate of 249 million pounds. After taxation, profit stood at 178.6 million pounds, down from 195.6 million pounds in the previous year. Revenue also slipped year over year to 1.18 billion pounds from 1.28 billion pounds, while net cash fell to 342.2 million pounds from 474.4 million pounds. Berkeley said it delivered 2,022 homes, plus 82 homes in joint ventures, over the period across London and the South-East, compared with 2,103 homes a year earlier and the consensus of 2,042 homes. The homes were sold at an average price of 570,000 pounds, down from 600,000 pounds in the prior year. The group noted that it saw stable trading levels in the first four months of the fiscal first half, while sales in the remaining two months of the period were "unsurprisingly" more subdued amid speculation and uncertainty ahead of the UK's Autumn Budget on Nov. 26. However, the housebuilder remains upbeat on the outlook for its markets. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets noted a positive sentiment on the group's "strong" performance for the first fiscal half. "[Despite] the months of uncertainty leading up to last month's budget Berkeley's strategy continues to deliver with profits slightly ahead of market expectations. The long term strategy of offering a range of tenures across the capital is working and will continue to work, in our view," the research firm said. "However, we increasingly expect to see the Government offering a first time buyer support package in the coming year, which will benefit the mainstream housebuilders more than Berkeley, who doesn't need the help as much as some." As of midday Wednesday, the group's shares were trading nearly 3% in the green in London.