27th Jan 2015 08:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC Tuesday reported a 44% increase in pretax profit in its last financial year, buoyed by higher house completions and average selling prices, and said it's on track to hit its revenue growth target of between 70% and 80% by 2016 compared with the 2013 level after a strong start to its new year.
It also offered a sweetener to shareholders, saying it intends to move its dividend towards being covered 2.0 times by earnings over the next three years, reflecting its strong cash generation.
The house builder reported a pretax profit of GBP116.7 million for the year to end-October, up from GBP80.9 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP636.3 million, from GBP525.7 million. It completed 2,530 homes in the year, up from 2,172 a year earlier, while its open-market average selling price rose 15% to GBP287,000.
It said it will pay a final dividend of 10.2 pence for the year, meaning its total dividend will be 14.3 pence. Its basic earnings per share rose to 39.3 pence, covering the total dividend by 2.75 times.
The company said its operating profit margin increased to 20.1%, from 18.5%, while its return on capital employed rose to 26.0%, from 24.1%.
?Crest Nicholson enters 2015 in a strong position and we are encouraged by the strong start to the year. Improved access to mortgages and real income growth underpins our confidence in the market
and in generating high quality returns. As we grow towards our natural scale, we maintain our
Southern focus and commitment to building high quality homes where people want to live,? Chief Executive Stephen Stone said in a statement.
The company said forward sales stood at GBP399.8 million in mid-January, up from GBP329.5 million a year ago, although it has only secured 41% of its forecast for this year, down from 51% at this stage last year.
Crest said it had added 3,730 plots to its pipeline over the course of the year, meaning its pipeline is now 6.8 years.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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