Crest Nicholson swung to a pretax loss last year as coronavirus restrictions caused significant disruption for the housebuilder.
The London-listed company has reported a loss of £13.5m for the year ending 31 October, down from a £114.6m profit the previous year. Revenue plummeted from £1.08bn to £677.9m.
When subtracting exceptional items, including a £43.2m coronavirus-related charge, adjusted profit was £45.9m, beating a half-year forecast of up to £45m but down from an equivalent figure of £121.1m for 2019.
Open-market average selling prices declined by 8.5% to £400,000, compared with £437,000 in 2019, while home completions totalled 2,247, down by 22.8% on the previous year.
However, Crest Nicholson said trading since the initial lockdown in the first half of 2020 had been strong, and pointed to forward sales of 2,435 units, with £564.5m gross development value for the coming year already covered. At the same point last year, it had 2,346 units and £503.5m GDV.
Chief executive Peter Truscott said: “The impact of Covid-19 has clearly had a defining impact on this year’s financial performance. It has challenged all of us in ways we could not have predicted, and I would like to recognise at the outset the incredible job the team at Crest Nicholson have done in keeping our operations running safely and securely during the pandemic.
“We had to make some difficult decisions during this year but because we acted swiftly we have ensured the group enters 2021 in strong shape and will remain resilient to whatever challenges this year brings.
“We have made strong progress on all elements of our strategy, delivered profit ahead of our revised guidance and strengthened the balance sheet as we promised.”
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