Crest Nicholson (CRST) is working to open more sales outlets in order to hit targets of £1.4bn sales and 4,000 homes a year by 2019. Things are going well. The year to October 2016 delivered sales of £1bn and 2,870 homes, and at mid-January the forward order book stood at £534m, up 4 per cent from a year earlier and equivalent to 37 per cent of targeted output for the current financial year.
Average selling prices on affordable housing and units for private rental grew by 5 per cent to £333,000; that's more than enough to cover cost inflation of 3-4 per cent. For private sales, a change in the mix pushed prices ahead by 18 per cent, although prices in central London were softer. Crest Nicholson has been reducing its exposure to central London, and sales here now account for just 5 per cent of group revenue.
Land buying was reined in for a couple of months after the referendum, which together with strong working capital management helped to lift the return on capital employed from 26.8 per cent to 31.3 per cent. It also meant that the previous year-end debt of £30.6m was turned into net cash of £77m.
| CREST NICHOLSON (CRST) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 486.2p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.24bn | |
| TOUCH: | 485.5-486.2p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 608p | LOW: 324p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.7% | PE RATIO: | 8 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 283p** | NET CASH: | £77m | |
| Year to 31 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012* | 408 | 62 | 28.5 | nil |
| 2013 | 526 | 81 | 27.1 | 6.5 |
| 2014 | 636 | 117 | 39.3 | 14.3 |
| 2015 | 805 | 154 | 49.3 | 19.7 |
| 2016 | 997 | 195 | 62.0 | 27.6 |
| % change | +24 | +27 | +26 | +40 |
Ex-div: 16 Mar Payment: 7 Apr *Prior to flotation **25 January 2017: The original version of this article incorrectly stated the net asset value. This has been updated | ||||
