Countryside Properties falls as Oaktree Capital sells entire stake

Jefferies acted as sole bookrunner, placing 36.2m shares in the company at 358p through an accelerated bookbuild.

Earlier this week, Countryside posted a 15% jump in first-half completions, but said average selling prices fell. In the six months to the end of March 2018, total completions rose to 1,655 from 1,437 in the same period a year ago. However, private average selling prices were down 11% to £392,000, with underlying sales growth of 3%.

The company said current trading remains "robust", with visitor levels, cancellations and net reservations all in line with expectations. It also said the acquisition of partnerships homebuilder Westleigh earlier this month is expected to be earnings enhancing from the current year.

Chief executive Ian Sutcliffe said: "We continue to deliver our strong organic growth trajectory with robust trading in all regions. We enter the second half in great shape and our acquisition of Westleigh will further increase our partnerships momentum by expanding our geographic reach and mixed tenure delivery."

At 0910 BST, the shares were down 2.3% to 362.60p.