"I am pleased to see early signs of progress from our operational and sales improvement initiatives, reflecting our continued commitment to strengthening the group's performance and delivering value"
- Martyn Clark - Crest Nicholson
Housebuilder, Crest Nicholson has seen an “encouraging” start to the year after a challenging 2024, citing its new operational and sales improvement initiatives.
In its latest trading update, the housebuilder stated that in the ten-week period to March 14, its open market sales rate (excluding bulk) was 0.61, up from 0.50 at the end of its previous financial year to October 31 2024.
This was supported by its "self-help initiatives including ongoing training and upskilling of the sales team, revised incentive schemes and enhancing our product offering."
Crest said that it is on track to deliver results for the current financial year in line with guidance and that its cash performance was “tracking better” than expected in the first four months of its current financial year.
The firm noted that while market conditions remained stable, interest rate reductions were now expected to be slower. The housing market was also still vulnerable to weak consumer confidence due to “stubborn” inflation and wider macroeconomic uncertainty.
During its 2024 financial year, Crest suffered a £144m loss. Reporting its results on February 4, it said failures to identify and implement “appropriate internal controls”, particularly regarding legacy operational issues on “complex developments and legacy sites”, had notably impacted its financial performance.
"I am pleased to see early signs of progress from our operational and sales improvement initiatives, reflecting our continued commitment to strengthening the group's performance and delivering value. While it is still early days, these efforts are beginning to make a positive impact," commented Crest’s CEO Martyn Clark, who joined the firm in June, "My initial focus on joining the business was to identify and address the issues that have held the business back. Since then, my team and I have devoted ourselves to identifying the market opportunity for Crest and planning for our future,"
He added, "We are focused on unlocking the significant opportunity in the mid-premium segment of the market, through becoming truly customer-centric, driving operational excellence and optimising our land portfolio to maximise value creation. We are excited about the road ahead and are clear on what we need to do to ensure success."
