London-based Berkeley Group defies gloomy housing market - Telegraph

London-based Berkeley Group defies gloomy housing market - Telegraph

Berkeley, led by veteran chairman Tony Pidgley, is to pay shareholders through three dividends in 2015, 2018 and 2021 totalling £13 per share.

The housebuilder said the programme allows Berkeley “to operate at its natural size and to optimise returns to shareholders while managing the risks of a cyclical market”.

It has invested more than £500m in buying new land in the last two years after halting previous proposals to reward shareholders because management believed they could acquire sites in places such as Westminster, Kensington and Hammersmith at discount prices at the bottom of the market.

This has allowed Berkeley to step up developments in London amid a shortage of new stock and take advantage of surging demand from international investors to acquire property in the city.

Berkeley specialises in high-end properties and regeneration .........