Final Results

Crest Nicholson PLC
30 January 2001


Embargoed until 7am on 30th January 2001


                       Preliminary Results Announcement


Crest Nicholson, the residential development company with interests in
property and construction, today announces results for the year ended 31st
October, 2000.

Financial highlights: % increase

  * Operating profit £58.5m (1999: £49.0m)           19%
  * Profit before taxation £48.1m (1999: £40.0m)     20%
  * Earnings per share 30.0p (1999: 23.9p)           26%
  * Proposed final dividend of 4.8p, making
    a total for the year of 7.0p
    (1999: 6.0p)                                     17%
  * Compound earnings per share growth 1996-2000     58%
  * Gearing 39% (1999: 42%)

Operational highlights:

  * 1,731 houses sold for £289.7 million at an average price of £167,400
  * Development value of short term land bank £1.36 billion (representing
    4.7 years supply)
  * Since year-end Crest Nicholson Residential has been selected for £130m
    regeneration project at Attwood Green, Birmingham (1,124 dwellings and
    commercial uses, including hotel)

Commenting today John Matthews, Chairman, said:

'The Group has had another successful year with major profits growth. We have
made significant progress in our mission to meet customers' needs by providing
environmentally sensitive, well designed and well built developments. As these
schemes are built, purchasers, land vendors and planners can see that our
delivery matches our promise, enhancing our position in this field as an
industry leader.

The outlook for the housing market is sound and, with our well-located concept
schemes and reputation for quality, we are ideally positioned to have a good
year. Our residential turnover will increase significantly as more of our
large-scale mixed-use schemes make a full year's trading contribution. Since
the year-end, a number of very large residential and mixed-use schemes have
been agreed, several on a partnership basis, and there is no shortage of
exciting opportunities for us to pursue.'

Enquiries to:

John Callcutt, Chief Executive                     Rebecca Blackwood/

Clive Littler, Finance Director                    Kate Miller/

Crest Nicholson PLC                                Jonathan Ayrton

Tel: [phone] (on day of announcement)        Brunswick Group Limited

Tel: [phone] (thereafter)                     Tel: [phone]


                             Crest Nicholson PLC

                Results for the year ended 31st October, 2000

RESULTS

Pre-tax profits reached £48.1m, an increase of 20% over the prior year.
Turnover increased from £512.5m to £555.2m and operating profit rose from £49.0m
to £58.5m. Earnings per share increased by 26% to 30.0p.



DIVIDEND

The Board is recommending a final dividend of 4.8p (1999: 4.0p) which,
together with the interim dividend 2.2p (1999: 2.0p), gives a total for the
year of 7.0p (1999: 6.0p).

This is a year-on-year increase of 17%.

The dividend will be paid on 6th April 2001 to shareholders on the register as
at 9th March 2001.



MANAGEMENT

During the year, Paul Callcutt joined the Board as Group Land Director and
Stephen Stone assumed responsibility for Crest Nicholson Residential as its
Managing Director. Lloyd Wigglesworth, an Executive Director of W H Smith,
also joined the Group as a Non-Executive Director.



REVIEW OF OPERATIONS
                        2000                          1999
               Turnover Operating    Profit    Turn-over Operating    Profit    
                        profit       before              profit       before
                                     taxation                         taxation

                  £m      £m           £m        £m        £m           £m

Residential      357.1    46.4         36.6   309.5       36.6          28.3

Property          65.0    11.2         10.7    75.0       10.7           9.7

Construction     133.1     0.9          0.8   128.0        1.7           2.0

                 555.2    58.5         48.1   512.5       49.0          40.0



RESIDENTIAL

Overview

The Residential Division achieved a significant increase in profitability in
2000 as the benefits of the Group's strategy to concentrate on large,
mixed-use sites, implemented several years ago, started to come through.
Profit before tax rose from £28.3m in 1999 to £36.6m.

Residential Trading

The total number of houses sold in the year was 1,731 compared with 2,422 in
1999. The sale of open market houses amounted to 1,524 units compared with
2,021 in the previous year. However, average prices increased to £174,700 from
£138,200 principally due to a greater proportion of the sales being located in
more expensive areas.

Housing Association business generated a turnover of £23m compared with £22m
last year with the number of homes sold being 207 units (1999 - 401 units).

The Group's Southern-based businesses produced a record performance. The level
of activity in the Midlands region was scaled back to focus on fewer quality
sites in higher value areas. The sale of the Northern region's portfolio was
undertaken to enable the Group to continue to invest in more productive
large-scale urban concept schemes.

In a relatively short time Nicholson Estates has become a market leader in
city centre redevelopment with a reputation for quality and service. Although
production delays reduced profit contribution, volumes will increase
significantly in 2001.

The sale of surplus land and assets from mixed-use sites is now an integral
part of the Group's development activities. Such sales realised £67m (£37m
excluding the Northern region portfolio) with an attributable profit of £
11.3m. The most significant disposal during the year was at Haydon in Swindon
where rights over land for ASDA Supermarket's Wal-Mart store were sold. The
proceeds from this sale are being used to fund infrastructure works which will
enable Crest's residential development to commence on the adjacent land in
2001.

The Residential Division increased its operating margin to 13.0% from 11.8%.
Excluding the Northern region and the sale of land during the year, the
operating margin achieved was 14.5% as against 12.5% in the previous year.

Land Bank

The short-term land bank (directly owned and consented) comprises 7,280 plots
compared with 6,296 plots held at 31st October, 1999. This represents a
realisable sales value of £1,364m, an increase of over 30% on last year (1999:
£1,034m). Based on last year's residential sales turnover this represents a
land lead of 4.7 years.

During the year the Group acquired twenty new sites for around 3,400 houses.
This included two major sites promoted by the strategic land team, namely
Bolnore Village near Haywards Heath and the Haydon Sector at Swindon. Bolnore
Village, a scheme for approximately 1,000 houses will begin production in the
current year. The Haydon Sector will provide 2,000 units; currently
large-scale infrastructure is being put in place. Production will start in
late summer/autumn and the site will be in full production for 2002.

A number of other land acquisitions were made during the year, for example,
the former Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital at Hammersmith.

In December, the Group was selected to develop the Attwood Green site close to
Birmingham City Centre which will continue to be owned by the City Council and
Optima Community Association. This is a regeneration project involving the
replacement of an early 1960's development with a new community incorporating
modern principles of sustainable development. The projected development value
of the site is around £130m and comprises 1,124 dwellings and commercial, uses
including a hotel.

Strategic Land

Notwithstanding the transfer of over 2,000 plots to short term land, the Group
has increased its strategic land bank in the year. The strategic land bank
currently comprises 1,020 acres for around 12,600 plots of which 4,900 either
have planning permission or are zoned for residential development.

Over three-quarters of the entire strategic portfolio is either allocated for
development or a recognised option in an emerging statutory plan. It is
therefore probable that under current planning policy most of the strategic
land will be allocated for future development.

Included in the Residential strategic units is the potential for around 500
apartments forming part of the proposed large mixed-use redevelopment of the
Canons Marsh site at Bristol Harbourside. After taking into account local
opinions on design and sustainability, extensive consultation with local
residents and other stakeholders is taking place on a revised scheme. We
believe this scheme is now gaining broad support.

Innovation and new technology

Crest Nicholson Residential is currently reviewing a number of innovations in
construction and technology. However, it will not adopt any processes that
place short-term production efficiencies before criteria such as
sustainability, product flexibility and the principles laid down in planning
policy guidelines recently published by the DETR.



PROPERTY

The Property Division produced another excellent performance, achieving a
profit before taxation of £10.7m compared with £9.7m last year. Operating
margins rose to 17.2% from 14.3%.

Demand for office space proved particularly strong with successful lettings on
the Group's business parks at Bartley Wood, Hook; Bristol Parkway North and
South Bristol.

Changes in planning policy and, in particular, the move towards more mixed-use
schemes has brought about a much closer integration of activities with the
Group's Residential and Construction Divisions. At Swindon 35 acres of land,
jointly held with Bovis, was sold to Bookham Technology for a major new office
and manufacturing facility. This land was part of the initial phase of the
Haydon Sector.

The business has continued to expand in the retail sector. Lettings at
Westgate Buildings in Newport, South Wales are proceeding well. The final
lettings were achieved at Colchester Retail Park, which had been pre-sold to
Standard Life and at Borough Parade, Chippenham, which had been purchased by
the Prudential. The Northgate quarter of Oxford achieved practical build
completion in time to allow Debenhams and Borders to trade last Christmas.
This should enable us to let the remaining retail units in the current year.

The Group has been nominated as the developer at Queen's Square, Crawley and
has acquired a town centre site at Scarborough. In addition it has been
selected to develop the Plough site at Hemel Hempstead which will involve the
introduction of new retail, leisure and residential uses to the Town Centre.

The Division remains optimistic about its future prospects as it controls in
excess of 200 acres of land for commercial uses. There will also be further
commercial opportunities arising from major residential regeneration schemes
currently in the short-term land bank.

CONSTRUCTION

Turnover in the Construction Division increased to £210.4m compared with £
178.9m last year. This included an increasing amount of work for other Group
companies; £77.3m compared with £50.9m last year. Profit was £0.8m compared
with £2.0m in 1999.

Crest Construction Management (CCM) was formed to provide specialist building
services to the Residential Division particularly on complex projects
including refurbishments and mixed-use. In its first year of operation CCM
carried out works on a number of the Group's large concept schemes which
included Ingress Park, Greenhithe; Port Marine, Bristol and Repton Park,
Chigwell. Overall, the standard of construction and finish achieved was very
good with high levels of customer satisfaction.

A number of major commercial schemes were also successfully carried out for
the Property Division at Oxford, Hook and Bristol Parkway. In addition,
several other commercial schemes were built for outside clients.

The two niche businesses, Pearce Retail and Pearce Leisure performed very well
and both improved their profitability. Retail has an ongoing programme of
store renewals for ASDA and a good spread of other customers across the retail
sector. Leisure's turnover increased markedly. It concentrates on hotel
chains, restaurants and on the health and fitness sector which is growing in
popularity. Prospects for widening the customer base are good.

The M+W Pearce market for clean rooms for the micro electronic sector improved
in the year and a number of sizeable new projects were secured, together with
a food processing plant. The food industry has an increasing demand for clean
environments. The recovery in the sector has enabled it to show a small profit
for the year compared with a £0.5m loss in 1999.

The order book at 31st October, 2000 was £120.4m compared with £106.5m in the
previous year. Since the year-end a further £50m of orders have been secured
and a further £100m of future orders identified.



FINANCE

Shareholders' funds at £203.4m increased by £24.9m (14%), from £178.5m.

The net tangible assets attributable to the ordinary shares are equivalent to
156p per share compared with 131p per share a year ago, an increase of 19%.

The proportion of the Group's capital committed to the Property and
Construction businesses of £30.2m fell again in the year to 11%. Recycling
resources into the Group's residential operations continues to contribute to
the expansion of the residential land bank.

Net borrowings at 31st October 2000 were £79.7m (1999: £75.2m) and represented
gearing of 39% (1999: 42%).

Interest costs at £10.4m increased from £9.0m in 1999 due to higher average
borrowings. Interest cover is 5.6x compared with 5.4x in the previous year.

Cash generated from operations of £33.5m, included positive cash flows from
all trading divisions.

Borrowing facilities available to the Group are £197.6m of which £167.5m is
either for a term in excess of 3.5 years or project specific finance.

STRATEGY AND PROSPECTS

The Group has achieved another year of major profits growth. Substantial
progress has been made in Crest Nicholson's mission to meet customers'
expectations through the provision of environmentally sensitive, well designed
and well built developments. The Group's commitment to these values has
already resulted in it being awarded the top '3 star' rating in all categories
of customers' satisfaction in the recent DETR poll carried out by MORI. In
addition, a number of quality awards have been won which include the HSBC
award for customer service.

The diversification of the Residential Division from standard house types,
built on relatively small sites, to the assembly and development of major
projects, often mixed-use, warranted a change in the division's brand image.
The brand name has been changed to Crest Nicholson, the Group name, which we
believe is more in keeping with the position of the business in the
marketplace.

The key issue that appears to be affecting the industry is a shortage of
suitable sites often brought about by delays in the rapidly changing planning
environment. In addition, undertaking mixed-use sites creates significant
challenges in terms of systems and management, especially for those developers
who previously focused on standard house types. However, this creates
significantly more opportunities than threats for the Group in terms of land
procurement and margin improvement. Land vendors in both the public and
private sectors are becoming increasingly aware that this new planning
environment makes their choice of development partner even more important.

Crest Nicholson's objective is to create a reliable supply of quality land in
prime locations. This is being achieved by demonstrating to land vendors that
Crest can create more value through the planning system than its competitors,
thus making a partnership with the Group their preferred option. As schemes
are built, purchasers, land vendors and planners can see that Crest's delivery
in every respect matches the promise, enhancing Crest Nicholson's position in
this field as an industry leader. Taking large mixed-use schemes through the
planning process and into production is a specialist skill that Crest
Nicholson identified as crucial to its strategic change, several years ago. As
the number of these schemes in the Group's short-term land bank increases, so
its skill base strengthens. In the meantime, the complexities of the
production process are being offset by the profits realised by the Group
through the sale of surplus land.

A General Election in the UK is probable this year. There is some concern over
the slow down in the US economy impacting upon Europe. However, US interest
rates have been reduced and rates in the UK for the time being have probably
peaked. The outlook for the housing market looks sound and Crest, with its
well located concept schemes and reputation for quality, is ideally positioned
to have a good year. Our residential turnover will increase significantly as
more of our large-scale mixed-use schemes make a full year's trading
contribution. Since the end of the year, a number of very large residential
and mixed-use schemes have been agreed, several on a partnership basis, and
there is no shortage of exciting opportunities for us to pursue.



STATEMENT OF RESULTS
Year ended 31st October                                         2000       1999
                                                                  £m         £m

Turnover - including joint ventures                            555.2      512.5
Less: attributable to joint ventures                          (10.6)      (6.8)

                                                               544.6      505.7


Operating profit                                                57.9       49.4
Operating profit/(loss) of joint ventures                        0.6      (0.4)

Operating profit - including joint ventures                     58.5       49.0
Net interest payable                                          (10.4)      (9.0)

Profit before taxation                                          48.1       40.0
Taxation                                                      (14.3)     (12.7)

Profit after taxation                                           33.8       27.3
Preference dividends                                           (2.1)      (2.1)

Profit attributable to ordinary shareholders                    31.7       25.2
Ordinary dividends                                             (7.4)      (6.4)

Retained profit                                                 24.3       18.8


Earnings per 10p ordinary share (Note 1)
Basic                                                          30.0p      23.9p
Diluted                                                        28.0p      22.6p


Dividends per 10p ordinary share                               7.00p      6.00p





CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
                                         31st October 2000   31st October 1999

                                              £m        £m        £m        £m

Fixed assets

Tangible assets                                        3.8                 3.8

Investments in joint ventures                          5.8                 0.3

Other investments                                      0.3                   -

                                                       9.9                 4.1

Current assets

Stocks                                     390.6               338.3

Debtors                                    169.4               134.7

Cash at bank and in hand                    23.8                41.7

                                           583.8               514.7

Creditors: amounts falling due

within one year                            225.2               193.0

Net current assets                                   358.6               321.7

Total assets less current liabilities                368.5               325.8


Creditors: amounts falling due

after more than one year                   163.9               146.2

Provisions for liabilities and charges       1.2                 1.1

                                                     165.1               147.3


                                                     203.4               178.5

Shareholders' funds                                  

(Note 2)                                             203.4               178.5



Net borrowings                                        79.7                75.2

Gearing                                                39%                 42%

Net assets per ordinary share (Note 3)                156p                131p


Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

Year ended 31st October                                      2000        1999

                                                         £m    £m    £m    £m

Net cash inflow from operating activities                    33.5        28.5

Dividends from joint ventures                                   -         0.4

Returns on investments and servicing of finance

Interest received                                       0.5         0.7

Interest paid                                         (10.2)       (8.8)

Preference dividends paid                             (2.1)       (2.1)


Net cash outflow from returns on
investments and servicing of finance                        (11.8)       (10.2)

Taxation

Corporation tax paid                                        (14.0)       (11.4)



Capital expenditure and financial investment

Tangible fixed assets acquired                        (1.0)       (1.0)

Investment in joint venture                           (5.0)          -

Other fixed asset investments acquired                (0.3)       (0.5)

Repayment of fixed asset investment loan                  -        0.7


Net cash outflow from capital expenditure and               (6.3)       (0.8)
financial investment

Equity dividends paid                                       (6.5)       (5.5)

Net cash (outflow)/inflow before financing                  (5.1)        1.0



Financing

Proceeds from share issues                            (0.6)       (1.1)

Decrease/(increase) in bank loan and loan notes        21.3       (5.5)

Net cash flow from financing                                 20.7       (6.6)

(Decrease)/increase in cash                                 (25.8)       7.6

                                                            (5.1)         1.0


NOTES

1 Earnings per share

Earnings per share are calculated on the profit attributable to ordinary
shareholders of £31.7m (1999: £25.2m), on a weighted average of 105,780,611
(1999: 105,519,334) ordinary shares in issue during the year.

Diluted earnings per share are calculated on the profit for the financial year
of £33.8m (1999: £27.3m) on a weighted average of 120,579,925 (1999:
120,866,125) ordinary shares on the basis that the preference shares had been
converted and the share options exercised.

2 Reconciliation of shareholders' funds

                                                               2000       1999
                                                                 £m         £m

Retained profit                                                24.3       18.8
Net proceeds from share issues                                  0.6        0.8

Net increase in shareholders' funds                            24.9       19.6
Opening shareholders' funds                                   178.5      158.9

Closing shareholders' funds                                   203.4      178.5



3. Net assets per share

Net assets per ordinary share is calculated on net assets of £164.7m (1999: £
139.8m), after deducting the preference capital of £38.7m (1999: £38.7m) from
the capital and reserves, on 105,846,413 (1999: 106,327,352) ordinary shares
in issue at 31st October 2000.

4. Statutory accounts

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Company's
statutory accounts for the years ended 31st October 2000 or 1999 but is
derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 1999 have been delivered
to the Registrar of Companies, whereas those for 2000 will be delivered
following the Company's Annual General Meeting. The auditors have reported on
those accounts; their reports were unqualified and did not contain a statement
under Section 237(2) or (4) of the Companies Act 1985.

5. Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Runnymede Hotel, Windsor Road,
Egham, Surrey on Thursday, 22nd March 2001 at 12.00 noon.

FIVE YEAR RECORD
                                         1996    1997    1998    1999    2000
                                           £m      £m      £m      £m      £m
Turnover (including joint ventures)
Residential                             192.2   201.9   269.9   309.5   357.1
Property                                 23.0    22.9    36.7    75.0    65.0
Construction                            117.1   128.2   158.8   128.0   133.1
                                        332.3   353.0   465.4   512.5   555.2
Operating profit (including joint
ventures)
Residential                              13.7    23.1    32.3    36.6    46.4
Property                                  1.5     1.5     3.2    10.7    11.2
Construction                                -     0.9     0.4     1.7     0.9
                                         15.2    25.5    35.9    49.0    58.5
Pre-tax profit
Residential                              10.2    19.3    25.7    28.3    36.6
Property                                (0.8)   (0.3)     1.7     9.7    10.7
Construction                              0.6     1.5     0.7     2.0     0.8
                                         10.0    20.5    28.1    40.0    48.1
Return on sales                          3.0%    5.8%    6.0%    7.8%    8.7%

Residential
Houses sold                             1,902   1,965   2,210   2,422   1,731
Average selling price                 £94,700 £98,400 £117,800 £124,500 £167,400
Operating profit %                       7.1%   11.4%   12.0%   11.8%   13.0%
Land bank - Short term (units)          3,869   5,795   6,329   6,296   7,280
Average selling price                £92,300 £105,500 £128,200 £164,200 £187,400
Land bank - Strategic (units)           5,411   8,010  10,924  11,680  12,562

Balance sheet
Shareholders' funds                     131.8   140.1   158.9   178.5   203.4
Net borrowings                           46.9    43.1    77.3    75.2    79.7
Capital employed                        178.7   183.2   236.2   253.7   283.1
Gearing                                   36%     31%     49%     42%     39%
Return on shareholders' funds            7.8%   15.6%   20.1%   25.2%   26.9%
(opening)
Return on capital employed (opening)     8.2%   14.3%   19.6%   20.7%   23.1%

Ordinary shares
Earnings per share                       4.7p   11.8p   16.6p   23.9p   30.0p
Dividends per share                     2.50p   3.75p   4.75p   6.00p   7.00p
Dividend cover                           1.9x    3.1x    3.4x    3.9x    4.3x
Net tangible assets per share             94p    101p    114p    131p    156p