Crest Nicholson Share News (CRST)

(Sharecast News) - Maintaining operations in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has now become impractical, one of the UK's largest homebuilders said.
Crest Nicholson also announced that it had qualified for access to the government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility and that it remained well capitalised.

Faced with the government's advice on moving home, widespread deferrals of mortgage approvals and ongoing disruptions to its supply chain, Crest Nicholson said it had decided on a full shutdown.

Peter Truscott, Chief Executive Officer said, "These are challenging and difficult times for all of us. I am hugely grateful to all Crest Nicholson employees who have pulled together and taken swift action to protect the interests of colleagues, customers and shareholders. We look forward to being able to resume our operations when it is safe to do so."

Final arrangments for the shutdown were finalised during the past week and a further update on its financing arrangement would be provided in due course, the company said.

Although most of its sites and operations had been closed for some time, the company said it was continuing to move proactively to protect its balance sheet and prioritise its cash flow.

Roughly three-quarters of its workforce had already been furloughed as part of the government's Job Retention Scheme and Crest Nicholson said it would ensure they receive the full pay they were entitled to until the end of May, when it would review the situation on furloughs.

The board and executive directors also announced that they would donate a fifth of the gross salaries to various charities for as long as any workers remained on furlough.