CREST Nicholson's profit plunged 39 per cent to miss revised forecasts in a terrible year for the housebuilder, it said yesterday.

Profit before tax sank from £168.7m in 2018 to £102.7m for the year ending in October. That missed guidance of between £120m and £130m, the result of last October's profit warning.

Profit margins were also squeezed to 12.2 per cent, a four per cent year-onyear decline. Home sales slipped two per cent from £1.122bn in 2018 to £1.095bn.

Meanwhile net cash more than doubled to £37.2m and Crest Nicholson managed to maintain its 33p total dividend per share.

Crest Nicholson said it was particularly exposed to last year's Brexit uncertainty, which it blamed for its poor profit. The housebuilder mainly operates in London and the south east, where house prices have fallen since the 2016 EU referendum.

Parliament's prolonged Brexit debates only hurt customer appetite for homes, Crest said.

"During the second half of the year, there was increased volatility in the number of site visits, reservations and completions, and elevated cancellation rates as customers continued to cite concerns over political and economic uncertainty stemming from Brexit," it said.

"In our geographies and at our price points, the resulting uncertainty has led consumers to refrain from buying until... landscape is clearer."

Shares rose 7.4 per cent to 472.6p despite the trading update.

(c) 2020 City A.M., source Newspaper