Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC (LON:CRST) raised its profit expectations for the year to end October 2021 as it said the UK housing market remains strong.
The FTSE 250 housebuilder said trading between 1 November 2020 and 22 March 2021 had been good on all fronts and it now expects FY21 adjusted profit before tax to be around £85mln,
“The UK housing market has remained resilient to the impacts of COVID-19 and is set to benefit from the measures recently outlined in the budget, including the extension of the stamp duty holiday and the introduction of Government-backed 95% mortgages,” it said in a statement.
“Our private SPOW [sales per outlet week] rate in the last 8 weeks was 0.81, representing an improvement from our last reported FY20 sales rate of 0.59.
“As of 22 March, our order book is over 70% covered for FY21, up from 55% as reported at our preliminary results in January.
“This includes sales that will legally complete after the end of Help to Buy phase 1 and the Stamp Duty holiday extension, further highlighting customers' confidence in the market.”
Crest Nicholson posted an adjusted profit before tax of £45.9mln in the year to end October 2020 and £121mln in 2019.