Barratt shares soar on good news

Shares in Barratt have recently soared, thanks to an agreement with lenders.

Shares in Barratt have recently soared, thanks to an agreement with lenders.

Barratt, which could have been in breach of its lending covenants if a deal had not been made, has struck a deal with lenders Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS, Lloyds and HSBC.

Following reports regarding the deals share prices have been reported to have jumped 25 per cent to 98p.

It is argued that Barratt has come in to trouble at a fortunate time, as financial institutions are already too busy with bad debt to begin taking Barratt apart.

Sources close to the company told Building.co.uk that, "with massive mortgage books of their own [the banks] were never going to let Barratt go under. There was effectively no choice but to offer the waivers".

Barratt makes a turnover of £3 billion, and upon the news of a rise in share prices, gains were also made elsewhere, with Taylor Wimpey and Redrow rising eight and nine per cent respectively.

However, the company caused confusion over the weekend when it failed to confirm the good news to the press.

"If we had anything to announce, we'd announce it," a spokesman told the Financial Times.