Crest Nicholson profit for year ‘ahead of expectations’

Crest Nicholson says its profit for the year is expected to be ‘marginally ahead’ of previous forecasts following strong sales over the past few months.

The housebuilder, in a brief trading update today, said its adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to 31 October would be slightly above the £101.2m originally predicted.

It said this was boosted by strong sales performance. Its forward sales as of 12 November stood at 2,502 homes worth £623.9m in gross development value, higher than the 2,300 homes worth £496.6m reported the previous year. The builder also said the £45m raised through the sale of its stake in Longcross Film Studios was “more than anticipated.”

The group has also previously forecast total turnover of £839.5m in 2020/21.

Peter Truscott, chief executive of Crest Nicholson, said: ’The group has performed strongly in the second half of the year with our full year underlying profit before tax marginally ahead of our expectations.

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“While the trading environment remains robust, it has been a challenging operational environment for our sector as we have emerged from the pandemic, with disruption to supply chains and the availability of materials. I am delighted that our teams have remained focused on implementing our strategy and have managed to successfully navigate our way through these issues.”

Crest Nicholson said progress against existing sustainability targets will be provided in its preliminary results in the next few weeks and further detail on sustainability targets will be published in the new year.

The housebuilder last year set out plans to double its home sales with plans for three new regions.