12th Jun 2025 09:20
(Alliance News) - Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC on Thursday said first-half trading was in line with expectations amid signs the housing market is stabilising.
The Surrey, England-based housebuilder reported pretax profit of GBP9.4 million for the six months to April 30, swinging from a loss of GBP30.9 million a year prior.
In the prior financial year, its bottom line was hurt by exceptional costs, including those to remediate buildings with possible fire safety defects, and site costs related to "certain build defects".
Crest said it continues to make good progress completing its assessment programme within the scope of the 'Developer Remediation Contract'.
At the end of May, the group had completed 279 external wall assessments and 270 internal assessments on the 293 buildings in scope and remains on track to meet all its commitments in the joint plan to accelerate developer-led remediation, it said.
Revenue in the half-year just ended fell 3.1% annually to GBP249.5 million from GBP257.5 million.
Crest reported home completions of 739 units in the half-year, down 6.2% from 788 a year prior.
The volume reduction was driven by the group's new strategy to increase profitability by focusing on open market homes in the mid-premium segment.
In this segment, Crest said demand remains "robust".
Open market sales per outlet week at 0.53 were up from 0.47 a year prior, with "significant improvement" in sales rate since mid-January of 0.61, as the "early benefits of improved sales execution are realised".
Chief Executive Martyn Clark said the housing market "continues to show signs of stabilisation with an incrementally easing planning system, improving affordability and strong support from lenders."
This places Crest Nicholson in a "strong position to navigate the market with confidence and clarity of purpose," he added.
Crest said sales have continued to progress in line with expectations in the first few weeks of the second half of the financial year. Forward orders for financial 2025, as at the end of May, total 763 units, it added.
The builder noted it was not experiencing any "meaningful" build cost inflationary pressures, either on the labour or material side.
Planning reforms continue to move "slowly but positively", it added, and as such "we anticipate further stabilisation in the trading environment in the second half of the year."
For the full year, Crest still expects adjusted pretax profit between GBP28 million and GBP38 million compared with GBP22.4 million in the year to October 31, 2024.
The company still expects home completions of 1,050 to 1,150 and a sales rate of 0.5 to 0.6.
The half-year dividend was increased by 30% to 1.3 pence per share from 1.0p a year ago.
Shares in Crest Nicholson were up 1.2% at 191.60 pence each in London on Thursday.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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