Berkeley Group first half profit drops 16% as home sales slide

(Reuters) – British housebuilder Berkeley Group on Friday posted a 16.6% fall in first-half profit as home sales were dented by the COVID-19 pandemic and said the coming months would be crucial to gauge the impact of new lockdowns and Brexit.

The company, which operates primarily in London, Birmingham and the South of England, said pretax profit fell to 230.8 million pounds for the six months ended October 31 from 276.7 million pounds a year earlier.