<p>Countryside’s revenue climbed <span>37%</span> on an increased number of completions in its half year but with its pre-tax profit slipping.</p> <p><span>During the six months to March 31 2021, the housebuilding and regeneration company’s revenue climbed from </span><span>£481.2 million in HY 2020 to £661 million. Pre-tax profit slipped from £</span><span>43.7 million last year to £38.8 million, with the business making a provision of </span><span>£25 million to cover the cost of remediating 20 of its schemes, identified as carrying defects.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>Countryside also reported a cost of £3.3 million towards the separation of its Housebuilding business from its Partnerships arm. It said that since announcing its plans to reorganise the business last December, it had made “excellent progress”. It expects to complete the review of the business in the second half of the year.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>The company’s total completions rose </span><span>14% to 2,591 new homes, governed by a “strong” increase in private sales as the business completed on homes delayed by Covid-19. Its private average selling price rose </span><span>6% to £389,000.</span></p><p></p> <p><span>Meanwhile, its net private reservation rate per open sales outlet per week was down to 0.68 against HY 2020’s 0.93. Countryside said this was “expected” due to its robust forward sales position entering …