17th Jun 2014 07:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC Tuesday said it will pay an interim dividend as profit and revenue rose in its first half, underpinned by strong buyer demand and improved mortgage access.
The residential property developer saw pretax profit jump 37% to GBP38.4 million for the six months ended April 30 from GBP22.2 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 26% to GBP241.1 million from GBP192.0 million, reflecting an increase in sales and housing completions.
The firm said revenue from house sales rose 31% on the previous period, reflecting volume growth and higher open market average selling prices, while sales per outlet per week rose 8% to 0.83 from 0.77.
Crest Nicholson said purchaser demand continues to be very strong and high levels of forward sales mean that production capacity is currently the most "critical factor" for volume growth. The company said it responded to demand by increasing volumes 35% to 1,091 units from 810 units a year earlier.
Crest Nicholson also said affordable-housing revenues rose 89%, with a significant increase in the number of affordable unit completions partially offset by a reduction in the average selling prices of these units, as the associated affordable land sale revenues were booked in 2013. The firm said it expects the full-year split between open-market and affordable units will be broadly similar to prior years.
The firm said it continues to add to its land bank with 784 plots added during the period. Crest Nicholson said the new additions brought its short-term land bank portfolio to 16,118 units, down slightly from the 17,094 units recorded a year earlier.
However, 2,064 more plots were added to the strategic portfolio across 6 sites. Net of transfers to short-term portfolio, disposals and re-plans, this brought the number of strategic sites up to 35 and 15,046 units compared with 32 and 13,763 units a year earlier.
Overall, Crest Nicholson said gross profit margin rose 90 basis points to 28.7%, compared with 27.8%, while operating profit margins rose 40 basis points to 18.5% from 18.1%.
"Demand for well-designed and sensitively delivered product remains high and the business is continuing to flourish in a good housing market, helping many purchasers fulfil their ambitions for home ownership," Chief Executive Stephen Stone said in a statement.
"With an improving economic backdrop underpinning the strength of the sector and the opportunities available to the business, the board remains confident in the out-turn for the year," he added.
On the back of its strong performance the company declared a interim dividend of 4.1 pence per share. The company listed its shares in London in February 2013.
Crest Nicholson shares were quoted up 3.0% at 334.80 pence Tuesday morning.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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