Trading Statement

Persimmon PLC
21 December 2006




                   TRADING UPDATE - THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER 2006


Persimmon plc announces the following trading update ahead of its Preliminary
Results to 31 December 2006, which will be announced on Monday 26 February 2007.

2006 has been another successful year for Persimmon. The integration of Westbury
was swiftly achieved and the enlarged Group has performed very well which
reflects the continued hard work of all our employees and development partners.
As previously stated, synergy savings have been accelerated and will be higher
than the £40 million per annum originally indicated for 2007 and beyond. Gearing
has been successfully managed and will reduce to c. 35% by the year end.

We remain confident that further significant benefits from the Westbury
acquisition will accrue in the future with the development of our affordable
housing business, Westbury Partnerships, and the successful pursuit of detailed
planning consents on a number of the ex-Westbury strategic land positions.

We expect to have increased legal completions by c. 32% to c. 16,700 in the year
to 31 December 2006 (2005: 12,636). Sales revenue for the year will be c. £3.15
billion, an increase of c. 38% over last year.

We therefore expect to announce another record set of results, in line with the
Board's expectations.

Whilst the market remains competitive, we have continued to sell at satisfactory
rates and forward sales into 2007 will be over £700 million (2006: £572
million). We have also continued to acquire land at attractive prices and have a
total land bank of c. 78,000 plots.

We are well placed to assist the Government in increasing the supply of new
homes and look forward to further constructive progress with regard to the
improvement of the planning system in the UK now the 'Barker Review of Land Use
Planning' has been published.

There is continuing confidence in the UK housing market and the new year and
early spring periods have historically produced an uplift in reservation rates.
We are well placed to grow our business further in 2007 and beyond.


For further information, please contact:

Persimmon Plc                                     Finsbury Group
Mike Farley, Group Chief Executive                Ed Simpkins
Mike Killoran, Group Finance Director             Kirsty Flockhart
Tel: [phone]                                Tel: [phone]




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