Retirement housing builder McCarthy & Stone (LON:MCS) reported a 25 percent plunge in interim profits on Wednesday morning, as Brexit worries begin to bite.
The construction firm said pre-tax profits fell to £21.8 million in the six months to February, compared to £29 million in the previous year. During the first half of the year, revenue tumbled 5 percent to £238.2 million, after legal completions caused it to slip 6 percent.
The company attributed the fall in profits to mounting anxieties relating to Brexit, as forward orders for homes slowed amid the uncertain housing market climate. Nevertheless, the company remains optimistic of higher returns during the course of the year as the market continues to show signs of stability.
McCarthy & Stone chairman John White commented: “The group continues to address the increasing market demand for retirement housing generated by a rapidly ageing population and has made good progress in recovering its workflow momentum following the outcome of the EU referendum last June.”
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Clive Fenton issued the following statement about the results:
“We have made solid progress during this half year despite the headwinds created by the lower forward order book brought into the year and the weighting of expected completions from higher margin new sites into the second half of the year.”
He added: “Trading conditions have remained stable during the period and underlying reservation rates continue to keep pace with the prior year despite the lower number of sales releases during the period.”
In addition, the specialist retirement housing developer has announced it has raised its interim dividend to 1.8p, up from 1.0p a year previously.
Elsewhere in the housing industry, Telford homes (LON:TEF) announced they had delivered record profits for the year to March, causing shares in the company to rise around 2 percent.
Shares in McCarthy & Stone are down marginally by 1.84 percent as of 10.16AM (GMT).