Crest Nicholson Holdings plc (C38.F)

Crest Nicholson forecasts steep fall in annual profit as pandemic hits

The company, which builds houses and flats across the southern half of England and the Midlands, expects annual adjusted pretax profit to be between 35 million pounds to 45 million pounds, against 121.1 million pounds reported in 2019. "We cannot ignore the risks that COVID-19 presents to the UK housing market even if we cannot predict with certainty what the impact of those risks will be," said Chief Executive Officer Peter Truscott in a statement. To cope with the health crisis and shore up its finances, Crest had scrapped its dividend, furloughed three-quarters of its staff and secured a 300 million pound credit from a government scheme since the pandemic took hold.