<p>Crest Nicholson has hailed a “strong financial performance” during its financial year, returning to profit and seeing the “turnaround” of the business complete, it said today (January 19).</p> <p>Issuing details of its preliminary results for the year ending October 31 2021, the housebuilder said that <span class="biv"><span>its pre-tax profit recovered to </span></span><span>£86.9 million</span><span class="biv"><span> from 2020’s loss of £</span></span><span>13.5 million. </span></p> <p><span class="biv"><span>The company’s adjusted pre-tax profit in 2021 improved to </span></span><span>£107.2 million from the previous year’s £45.9 million. Adjusted operating margin was up to 14.6% compared to 2020’s 8.4%. </span><span class="biv"></span></p> <p><span class="biv"><span>I</span></span>ts revenue grew from 2020’s <span class="bip"><span>£677.9 million to </span></span><span class="biv"><span>£786.6 million – a result of its strategic progress and the “underlying strength of the housing market”.</span></span></p> <p><span class="biv"><span>Home completions rose </span></span><span>7% against the previous year to 2,407, but down on the pre-pandemic </span>2,912. The <span>private</span> average selling price rose to <span>£359,000 from 2020’s £336,000 as Crest responded to the effects of inflation, it said.</span></p> <p><span>With a “strong sales momentum” experienced, Crest achieved a sales per outlet per week rate of 0.80 against 2020’s 0.59.</span></p> <p><span>As of January 14, forward sales were at 2,702 units and £719 million gross development value (GDV). This compares to 2,435 units …