Berkeley has said the housebuilding and construction industry will need government support, including a simplification of the planning process, if it is to play a leading role in helping the British economy recover from the coronavirus. Rob Perrins, the chief executive of the FTSE 100 housebuilder, said the government would need to intervene to kickstart growth. “Housebuilding and construction can play a vital role in the broader economic recovery following Covid-19,” Perrins said as Berkeley announced its full-year results on Wednesday. “This will require government support, similar to that seen following the 2008-09 financial crisis, including: the reversal of the property tax increases seen since 2014, a reduction in the bureaucracy and cost of planning, and direct investment into affordable housing.” UK housebuilders have benefited from government support in recent years because of the help-to-buy scheme, which subsidised the acquisition of new-build homes and boosted profits at companies such as Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey. While many firms in the sector have tapped the government’s wage support and loan schemes in recent months, Berkeley said it had not had to turn to the government’s furlough programme or its Covid corporate financing facility. Berkeley said on Wednesday it would stick to its plan of providing £280m a year to shareholders until 2025, with the next £140m payment still on track for September. However, a planned return of £455m of surplus capital has been deferred for up to two years because of the pandemic. The company, which operates mainly in London, Birmingham and the south-east of England, said in the year to the end of April it built almost 3,000 homes, including about 10% of London’s new private and affordable homes. Berkeley said it supported about 32,000 jobs, directly and indirectly. It reported a 35% fall in pre-tax profits in the year to the end of April, from £775m to £503m. The company said it had been on track to meet its profit guidance of £550m before the lockdown but revised that down to £475m at the end of March. “Berkeley therefore surpassed its initial expectation in this regard,” the company said. It maintained its target of an average annual profit of £500m through to 2025. “We now anticipate profit delivery in the coming year to be weighted towards the second half in an approximate one-third to two-thirds ratio,” the company said. “This does assume no further significant disruption from a second wave of Covid-19 or a disorderly end to the Brexit transition period.” Production capacity dropped about 40% as the UK went into lockdown and is now back up to about 80%. Sales in April and May were 50% below normal market conditions.