Workers at a West Yorkshire housebuilder have been praised by their boss for helping the firm to achieve an outstanding business performance.

Wayne Gradwell, managing director of Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire, says that the hard work of his team helped the business deliver growth and has accelerated returns to shareholders.

Speaking as Persimmon posted its results for the year ended December 31, 2013, Mr Gradwell said: “Customer demand has certainly increased in the region and I’m extremely proud of the team for rising to the challenge and helping to deliver today’s excellent results.”

Persimmon legally completed 11,528 sales in 2013, a 16 per cent increase over the previous year. Full year revenues rose by 21 per cent to £2.1 billion.

The increase in revenues coupled with the improvement in margins resulted in underlying operating profits increasing by 50 per cent to £333 million, against a restated £223 million the previous year. Underlying pre-tax profits surged by 49 per cent to £330 million compared with a restated 2012 figure of £222 million.

Locally, the business increased its build rate, including a new development at Hipperholme, and this year has launched several new sites, including in Bradford, with six further developments planned across West Yorkshire in 2014.

Mr Gradwell added: “We have built our success on responding to local demand and delivering the types of houses needed to meet the requirements of local people.

“The purchase of land is key to our future success and as a business we acquired 17,735 plots of new land across 130 high-quality locations during 2013.

“We continue to work closely with local authorities to gain planning within the region to ensure we continue to meet the high demand from potential buyers.

“Help to Buy, the Government’s equity loan scheme, has undoubtedly helped some people get onto the property ladder or simply move up quicker than they anticipated and it’s our job to deliver houses to anyone who is looking for a brand new home.”

At the end of last year the division hired six new graduates in a variety of roles and also declared its intention to offer construction apprenticeships to young people and sub-contract work to tradesmen as it gears up to build more houses.