Berkeley on track to return £568m to shareholders

London-focused housebuilder Berkeley today said it was on track to return £568 million to shareholders by September 2015.

In a trading update covering the three months to 28 February, the group said forward sales stand at more than £1.4 billion, which Shore Capital analyst Jon Bell said was about 40 per cent ahead of the same period a year ago.

Berkeley is due to pay shareholders an interim dividend of 15p a share on 19 April, contributing about £20m to its target of returning £568m to investors.

The builder said its strong land bank and lack of debt “give the board confidence that it will meet expectations for the year ending 30 April and its long-term plan to return £13 per share to shareholders”.