Deutsche Bank downgrades Crest Nicholson after profit warning

(Sharecast News) - Deutsche Bank downgraded Crest Nicholson on Wednesday to 'hold' from 'buy' and slashed the price target to 79p from 228p following the housebuilder's profit warning a day earlier.

"Crest's unscheduled update stated that whilst reservation rates have so far been largely unaffected by the Middle East war, they are starting to see weakness emerge in visitor/enquiry levels, and prospects in the land market have deteriorated sharply," DB noted.

As a result, Crest downgraded FY26 volume expectations by around 11%, land sale revenue by 50% and now expects higher build cost inflation.

Guidance is for EBIT margins of 1-3% in FY26 - versus 6% in FY25 - and the group is expected to be loss-making at the pre-tax profit line - and consequently Crest is seeking a temporary banking covenant relaxation.

"We think that Crest can trade through this challenging situation without the need for external equity, but returns in the foreseeable future are expected to be well below its cost of equity," Deutsche said.

It said the downgrade and price target cut reflect the above and ongoing trading uncertainty.

At 1230 BST, the shares were up 0.7% at 70.50p, having tumbled on Tuesday.