logo-loader

Countryside Properties tumbles as it cautions housing market remains highly uncertain

Last updated: 20:05 14 May 2020 AEST, First published: 17:05 14 May 2020 AEST

Countryside Properties -
Countryside furloughed 67% of its staff

Countryside Properties PLC (LON:CSP), the housebuilder, saw it share price tumble as it reported a huge drop in profits as coronavirus restrictions kicked in.

The FTSE250 group added it had lost around 184 sales at the end of March when lockdown restrictions were imposed.

These had affected profits by £29mln and pushed up net debt by £83mln.

Countryside said it had restarted work on 80% of sites but at reduced build rates while it adjusts to the new coronavirus working guidelines.

Iain McPherson, chief executive, welcomed the government’s decision to allow people to move home again but said the market remains 'highly uncertain'.

Since the end of March, orders had been running at ‘significantly’ lower levels, he said, though there was virtual interest and continued strong demand from its partners for affordable homes.

In the six months to March, sales fell by 5% to £481mln while profits dropped 38% to £43.7mln.

The interim dividend has been suspended, while Countryside ended the period with net debt of £128mln.

Broker Peel Hunt noted the order book is up 45% at £1.5bn, but was 'somewhat surprised by the scale of the operating profit drop given the more modest decline in revenue/completions'.

Shares fell 17% to 306p.

 

-- adds share price, comment --

 

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

10 hours, 27 minutes ago