Interims out in June

Stephen Stone Crest Nicholson (small)

Crest Nicholson has said that trading this year has been in line with expectations with forward sales up 15% to 拢620m.

It said the number of sales outlets it has was 12% higher than last year with 55 up and running and more planned to open in the coming months.

In a statement ahead of the firm鈥檚 AGM this morning, the housebuilder鈥檚 chairman William Rucker said: 鈥淭he board is pleased to report that the trading environment highlighted at the preliminary results announcement in January continues to be generally robust with good sales growth across our areas of operation.

鈥淒emand for new homes continues to be strong underpinned by high levels of employment and government policies to improve access to housing.鈥�

In its results for the year to October 2017, the firm, whose chief executive is Stephen Stone (pictured), said pre-tax profit was up 6% to 拢207m on revenue up 5% to just over 拢1bn.

The firm will publish its results for the six months to the end of April on 12 June.