AGM Statement

Persimmon PLC
25 April 2002

                               TRADING STATEMENT

                           Thursday 25th April, 2002


At the company's Annual General Meeting to be held later today, Duncan Davidson,
Group Chairman of Persimmon, will make the following remarks:

'Sales of our homes continue to be buoyant, with volumes ahead of our
expectations and margins remaining strong. However, we continue to concentrate
on further improvements in margin per plot, as this enables us to conserve our
valuable land bank.

We continue to focus on providing a full range of homes across all markets in
the U.K.  Whilst we are currently selling homes at prices from £50,000 to over
£1,250,000, 73% of this year's sales to date are below £150,000. Our average
selling price is currently £132,000.

All our markets remain strong, with Scotland and Northern England in particular
experiencing an increase in demand and better selling prices.

Strong management is just as important in good market conditions, in order to
ensure that we achieve maximum selling prices, contain build cost increases and
exercise caution in land purchases.

Long experience has shown us that increases in interest rates alone will not
affect demand for our homes and we are confident that demand will continue to
exceed supply for the foreseeable future.  This is despite the Government's
current efforts to improve the planning process, which we welcome.

We are confident of further good results for Persimmon in 2002 and beyond.'

                                     -ENDS-



For further information, please contact:

John White, Chief Executive                          Edward Orlebar

Persimmon plc                                        Finsbury Group

Tel: [phone]                                    Tel: [phone]


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