Crest Nicholson has been building new homes for over four decades and is firmly established as a leading developer with a passion for not just building homes, but creating vibrant sustainable communities. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities, both now and in the future, by providing better homes, work places, retail and leisure spaces. Most importantly, we place our customers at the heart of everything we do.

Our development portfolio ranges from contemporary city centre apartments and townhouses to traditional detached family homes and complex regeneration schemes. The success of long term partnership developments such as Park Central in Birmingham, as well as innovative low carbon developments including One Brighton, ICON and Avante, underline the Group's determination to lead the industry in its quest to create innovative development solutions which positively contribute towards achieving a sustainable future.

In today's low carbon world, it is our unrivalled vision and values in design, customer service, innovation and environmental stewardship that set us apart. Responding to the challenges posed by climate change and urban renewal forms an integral part of our approach, positioning us well to lead in the complex and challenging process of delivering sustainable communities.

I am particularly proud of the recognition that we have achieved for our contribution to the built environment. To be bestowed with The Queens Award for Enterprise in Sustainable Development category in 2007 was a real honour. This 5 year accolade is proof of our continued commitment to producing high quality developments that champion the very best principles in sustainability and design. It demonstrates our unquestionable passion in delivering communities where people genuinely want to live, work and play.

Ultimately however, the greatest accolade comes directly from our purchasers and nine out of ten have said that they would be happy to recommend Crest Nicholson to a friend. While both the House Builders Federation and our own independent consultants verify that our customer satisfaction is improving year on year, we will not become complacent. Our priority is to continue to build on this track record and deliver our customers with a home and level of service that continues to surpass expectations.

http://www.crestnicholson.com/

Crest Nicholson shares jump as housebuilder returns to stock market after five years

First big flotation of the year starts well as analysts say upmarket company is cheaper than peers


Five years after Crest Nicholson was taken private at the peak of the property cycle, the upmarket housebuilder has made a successful start to life back on the stock market.

In the biggest flotation so far this year and the largest since Direct Line, the company priced its shares at 220p, the top end of its last indicated range. That values the business at £553m. As part of the float, Crest is raising £224.9m, with existing shareholders Varde Investment Partners and Deutsche Bank selling some of their stakes.

Since being taken private by HBOS and Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter in 2007, Crest has had a torrid time. Saddled with huge debts, it struggled when the property market turned down as the global financial crisis took hold. In 2009 it completed a debt for equity swap, and is now majority owned by Varde.

Crest's shares have climbed to 248p in conditional dealings which began this morning. Chief executive Stephen Stone said:


Having spent 39 of our 50 years as a listed company, we look forward to re-joining the public markets.



Analyst Robin Hardy of Peel Hunt said the company looked cheap compared to the rest of the housebuilding sector:


There are many things to like about Crest Nicholson: a heavy bias towards the true south east/home counties markets; it is closely aligned with government, which is rainmaker in this cycle; there is a drive for productivity gains, unheard of in this sector; it benefits from higher design standards; it has a long (nine-year) landbank without damaging its return on invested capital.

We have long said that small is beautiful in this cycle, as it allows a business to post real growth rather than a cyclical rebound in margins. Crest aims to grow unit sales by 12%-15% through the cycle and, while this may give smaller earnings per share increases than seen elsewhere, we believe growing in this way produces a far superior quality of earnings



Chris Searle, capital markets partner at accountants BDO, said:


Whether the success of the Crest Nicholson [flotation] heralds a general upturn in the fortunes of the London IPO market remains to be seen but, together with the general improvement in sentiment since the start of the year, this is an encouraging early sign.

Closed up 15.91%

Crest Nicholson............I own Crest Nicholson "Homes" in Kent...........Great company; been hard in the housing market since 2008; is now the time for investment?

Great company though.

You have got me tempted with this share Dreamcatcher.


Good look..........Is this another "WAND"?



Gerponville18

G, one to sit on for the future, with some signs the housing market has started to lift.

Up over 19% over its first two days trading.

The shares are only open to the public investor from tomorrow (Monday).

Thanks DC - I will watch these.

Questor thinks investors keen on Crest should wait and buy on any dips.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/9868458/Questor-share-tip-Crest-Nicholson-back-with-a-bang.html

Lets hope their history isn't repeated. Used to be into tennis courts, yachts, engineering & electronics and had huge debts. I assume they have been building up a land bank at depressed prices, so should take advantage when the housing market picks up.

Harry , correct they have a huge land bank.

The sp did shoot up on the initial offering. A small drop today, will keep a close eye .


Land bank value.

With around 95 per cent of its 16,959-plot short-term land bank focused on the more prosperous south of England. There are a further 12,623 plots in the strategic land bank, and total land holdings have an estimated gross development value of £6.8bn

A small slip today, watching.

Are these actually trading. Thought it was just the grey market this week.

Yes g, started trading on Monday.

Cheers DC. Bit expensive now then to issue SP.

Picked some up today, the question being will they get cheaper?

In IC this week - An operating margin of 17.7% puts Crest Nicholson up with the best of the housebuilders. While other builders are still repairing margins as they work through legacy land bought before the credit crunch, Crest wrote down the value of its substantial land bank in 2009, so its margins have already recovered. That said the levels should sustained as a result of a fall in the overrheads/sales ratio as extra
volumes do not require much more overhead. Valuations on the 220poffer price put the shares on just 5.6 times 2015 EPS, according to Peel Hunt, with a price to book value of 0.74 2015 -adjusted net tangible value - both are a significant discount to other housebuilders, which still applies with the shares at 265p.
Analysts at liberum Capital are forecasting strong volume growth to boost operating profits by around 11% a year up to 2016. All the major housebuilders are trading at a premium or close to net tangible assets, which suggests that Crest Nicholson still has some catching up to do.

A good rise today.

Good rise on the back of strong purchasing today.

Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC (CRST:LSE) set a new high during today's trading session when it reached 298.68. Since the IPO on Feb 13, 2013, the share price is up 15.69%.