LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Barratt said it expects full year results to be "modestly above" prior expectations after a strong start to the new year and was refunding £3.5m in Covid business rate relief.

The house builder on Thursday forecast 2021 wholly owned completions to be between 16,000 and 16,250 homes and to deliver around 650 joint venture completions. Total forward sales for the January 1 - May 2 period were £37bn, compared with £2.8bn for the same period last year.

"We recognise that following the initial national lockdown, unlike many other industries, we have been fortunate in our ability to continue operations across the country. As a result, we are in a strong financial position and, in recognition of this, the board has agreed to refund £3.5m of business rate relief on show homes and sales offices offered by local authorities due to Covid-19," Barratt said in a trading update.

It has already refunded £26m of Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme cash and expects net administrative expenses to be around £210m

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