26th Jan 2021 08:38
(Alliance News) - Housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC on Tuesday said it beat its own profit guidance and set out plans to reinstate its dividend.
Revenue for the financial year that ended October 31 was GBP677.9 million, down from GBP1.09 billion the year before due to Covid-19 disruption.
The company swung to a pretax loss of GBP13.5 million versus a profit of GBP102.7 million the year prior. Crest took an exceptional charge of GBP48.1 million, mostly composed of a GBP43.2 million non-cash inventory impairment. It had taken a smaller exceptional charge of GBP14.9 million in the comparison year.
Adjusted pretax profit of GBP45.9 million, though down from GBP121.1 million, was ahead of Crest's GBP35 million to GBP45 million guidance range.
Crest said it has entered the new year with a strong forward order book and "enhanced" balance sheet. It had net cash of GBP142.2 million on October 31, up from GBP37.2 million a year before and ahead of its November guidance.
"Looking forward, through 2021 and 2022, the next phase of Crest Nicholson's recovery will be improving operating margins to be in line with industry peers. Gross profit margins in 2021 will continue to be impacted by some of our more complex legacy sites and we will also need to invest the necessary capital to complete these. However, the group still expects to deliver strong profit growth and cash flow generation," the company said, adding that this backdrop supports the reinstatement of its dividend.
Crest plans to reinstate its dividend at two and a half times cover, effective from its half-year results. It declared no dividend for financial 2020, compared to 11.2p the year before.
The housebuilder said reservations have been in line with expectations so far in January. Sales per outlet per week in the financial year to date have been 0.60, up from 0.59 in financial 2020, though down from 0.76 in financial 2019.
Forward sales as of January 15 were 2,435 units with GBP564.5 million gross development value.
Crest was up 2.8% early Tuesday in London at 314.63 pence. The shares are down almost 30% in the past 12 months, however.
By Tom Waite; [email protected]
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