Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (BKG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Berkeley Group interim results presentation for the six months ended 31st of October 2025. This is my first results announcement as executive chair and my 50th since first joining the board in 2001 which seems fitting as we look forward to celebrating Berkeley's 50th anniversary in 2026. I will shortly hand over to Richard Stern, our Chief Executive and our new CFO Neil Eadie to review the first half of the year and what has been a highly credible performance in a challenging trading environment. As we look ahead to our anniversary year and an exciting future, Barclays DNA remains grounded in our added value philosophy. Our Berkeley 2035 strategy provides us with an agile capital allocation framework to make the right decisions across the cycle to create long-term shareholder value. Berkeley has a unique position in London development market through its scale, experience and expertise and we're determined to play a full part in helping government meet its growth ambitions and housing targets. In London, this means increasing starts tenfold to over 80,000 per annum and 1.5 million across the country over the course of this Parliament. It must however be recognised that since 2015, successive governments have seen property ownership as a source of increased revenue. Coupled with higher corporate and development taxes, this has and will continue to constrain viability and investment. Notwithstanding this, I've been greatly encouraged by and I'm in full support of government's recent policy initiatives and their commitment to reduce regulation, including the Homes for London package launched in conjunction with the GLA. It is critical that these initiatives move at pace alongside a reduction in the tax burden if their ...