£1bn wiped off the value of British housebuilders

More than £1bn was wiped off Britain’s housebuilders as the slowdown in the property market continues to bite.

Traders offloaded shares in their droves yesterday over fears the prolonged slump will hit profits.

Builder Crest Nicholson reported a 2pc drop in profits to £74.8m for the six months ending April 30, despite posting a 13pc increase in revenue to £473.8m over the period.

operating in the South of england, it was stung by a combination of rising building costs and flat growth in house prices, it said in its half-year results.

House prices have been rising much more slowly than before the 2016 eU referendum, which knocked consumer confidence. The announcement knocked 4.1pc, or 18.2p, off the builder’s shares, which ended the day at 428p.

Chief executive Patrick Bergin said: ‘our experience of generally flat pricing against a backdrop of continuing build cost inflation has had an adverse impact on our margins and we have taken a number of actions to seek to offset build cost pressures.’

The warning weighed heavily on the share prices of other builders as traders feared for the outlook for the property market.

Bellway shares slid 3.6pc, or 122p, to 3287p despite its boast that it is on track to sell in excess of 10,000 homes this year for the first time in its history.

In an upbeat trading update, the builder predicted another year of ‘substantial earnings growth’.

But Crest’s warning rang more loudly in the ears of investors. Berkeley, Barratt Developments, Redrow and Bovis were all off more than 2.7pc yesterday, while Persimmon and Taylor

Wimpey were down 2.5pc and 2.1pc respectively.

The FTSE 100 trundled 0.43pc, or 33.62 points, lower to 7703.81 while the FTSE 250 fell 0.36pc, or 77.13 points, to 21241.64.

British Gas-owner Centrica was one of the blue-chip index’s biggest risers after receiving a ratings boost to ‘buy’ from Jefferies.

The broker predicted Centrica would see a material earnings upgrade from the recent rally in gas and oil prices. Shares ticked up 3.7pc, or 5.4p, to 150p.

rBC Capital Markets warned trendy fashion label Superdry it was ‘not out of the woods yet’ as it slashed the retailer’s target price by 500p to 1400p.

In a note, rBC said the fashion brand’s online sales were eating into store profits and told investors they would have to adjust to lower revenue growth. Shares sunk 4pc, or 51p, to 1220p.

Morgan Stanley named IMI as its favoured pick in the fluid control engineering space at the expense of Rotork. It upgraded IMI to ‘overweight’ with a target price of 1410p, arguing now is ‘one of the best entry points’ to invest with its shares at an eight-year low compared to its peers.

The investment bank downgraded rotork to ‘equal weight’, arguing its shares look pricey compared with others in its sector. IMI climbed 1.6pc, or 19p, to 1193p. rotork fell 1.2pc, or 4p, to 334p.

Shares in Oxford Instruments soared as the high-tech tool maker for the research industry swung back into the black.

It posted a £34.2m pre-tax profit on revenue of £296.9m in the year to March 31, up from a £26.2m loss the year before. Shares leapt 9.5pc, or 87p, to 1002p.

Motorpoint, the UK’s largest independent car dealer, flopped following a broker downgrade – despite posting a 71pc increase in profit to £20m in the year to March 31. Numis slashed the firm to ‘add’ from ‘buy’ even though its shares have risen 77pc over the past year.

Despite the downgrade, Numis said it remains positive about growth prospects. Shares stumbled 5.7pc, or 15p, to 246p.