Difficult first half for Crest Nicholson

Crest Nicholson is planning to cut around 130 jobs and shelve the opening of a new division after revealing its profits could slide by as much as 70% this year.

The guidance from the housebuilder, which employs over 1000 people, follows a bottom-line loss of £51.2 million for the six month period to April 30, which included a review of assets in the wake of Covid-19.

Its building sites reopened from 18 May, with the company encouraged by recent trading as reservation rates return towards pre-lockdown levels.

However, boss Peter Truscott added: “We cannot ignore the risks that Covid-19 presents to the UK housing market even if we cannot predict with certainty what the impact of those risks will be.”

Plans for new division in Hampshire are on hold. Adjusted profits fell 93% to £4.5 million, with the impact of uncertainty ahead of the December 2019 also contributing alongside Covid disruption.

Second-half trading should be much stronger, leading to a full-year forecast of £35 million-£45 million compared with £121 million last time.