Housebuilder open market sales rate increases in first few months of the year

Crest Nicholson says it is on track to deliver results in line with its previous forecasts after improving its sales rate in the 10 weeks to 14 March.

The housebuilder, in a short trading update today, said it expects it will meet its targets. It has previously said it expects pre-tax profit of between 拢28m and 拢38m in the year to 31 October and between 1,700 and 1,900 home sales.

Crest Nicholson said in the 10 weeks to 14 March its open market sale rate increased to 0.61 units per site per week, up from 0.50 for the same period last year. It also said its cash performance in the first four months of its reporting year has been better than expected.

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Crest Nicholoson will release interim results in June

In a presentation to analysts and investors this morning, Crest Nicholson outlined its plan to increase annual completions to 2,300 a year over the next five years. It also said it wants to increase its gross margins by between 1% and 1.5% a year to 20% and reduce revenue by 7% by 2027.

Making a pre-tax profit of up to 拢38m would represent a vast improvement for the firm, which made a 拢144m loss last year amid increased building safety costs and falling completions.

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Martyn Clark, who took over as chief executive last June, said: 鈥淚 am pleased to see early signs of progress from our operational and sales improvement initiatives, reflecting our continued commitment to strengthening the Group鈥檚 performance and delivering value. While it is still early days, these efforts are beginning to make a positive impact.鈥�

Clark added that Crest Nicholson is focused on the 鈥渕id-premium鈥� segment of the housing market.

The firm will release its interim results for the six months to the end of April on 12 June

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