Crest Nicholson swings to pre-tax profit in H1 of fiscal 2021

Crest Nicholson Holdings plc (LON: CRST) said on Thursday it returned to profit in the fiscal first half. The company expressed confidence that the housing market will keep resilient after the stamp duty deadline of 30^th September.

Crest Nicholson forecasts at least £100 million of full-year adjusted pre-tax profit

Crest Nicholson now forecasts at least £100 million of adjusted pre-tax profit this year. The housebuilding company cited the strength of its forward order book as it disclosed that roughly 93% of the full-year revenue had been covered.

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For the first half of fiscal 2021, Crest Nicholson reported £36.3 million of pre-tax profit versus the year-ago figure of £51.2 million of pre-tax loss. On an adjusted basis, the British company noted £36.3 million of pre-tax profit for the six months that concluded on 30^th April. In the same period last year, it had posted £4.5 million of adjusted pre-tax profit.

Crest Nicholson generated £324.5 million of revenue in H1 – an increase from £240 million last year. The Chertsey-based firm completed 1,017 homes in the first half, compared to 775 in H1 of the previous year.

In separate news from the United Kingdom, the British multinational engineering and consulting business, John Wood Group plc said, its adjusted earnings are likely to slip 12% in fiscal H1.

Crest Nicholson declared 4.1 pence per share of an interim dividend

As of 18^th June, Crest Nicholson values its forward sales at £691.8 million versus £575 million in the same period of fiscal 2020. The board declared 4.1 pence per share of an interim dividend on Thursday. Commenting on the financial update, CEO Peter Truscott said:

“Having completed the first part of our turnaround strategy, and implemented our operational efficiency programme, our focus now moves to rebuilding operating margins and delivering sustainable growth. We are evaluating options to enter new geographical markets and look forward to outlining these future growth plan and our long-term financial targets later this year.”

Crest Nicholson opened about 1% down in the stock market on Thursday but gained 7% in the next hour. Including the price action, it is now exchanging hands at 445 pence per share versus 307 pence per share at the start of the year.

Crest Nicholson performed fairly downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of more than 20%. At the time of writing, the British housebuilding company has a market cap of £1.14 billion.