TIDM15HG
RNS Number : 9498O
Great Places Housing Group Limited
12 February 2021
QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE UPDATE
This update covers performance for the period ending 31 December
2020.
Our Performance Updates are aimed at ensuring our investors and
other stakeholders receive regular, timely information regarding
the performance of the Group. We will publish these reports on a
quarterly basis and will produce them within six weeks of the
relevant quarter end.
The information included is based on unaudited management
accounts and other internal performance measures.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: QUARTER THREE RESULTS
The management accounts of Great Places Housing Group (the
Group) show year to date surplus of GBP15.3m, GBP2.1m better than
budget. Turnover in the period (all income including property
sales) was GBP103.0m and operating surplus GBP35.2m.
The main savings were interest GBP1.0m, due to interest rates
lower than budget and effective management of liquid cash and
revolving credit facilities, and property sales surpluses overall
being GBP0.7m higher than budget. Other variances included overhead
savings like bad debt expense lower than budget and savings on
insurance costs, an efficiency from the transfer of engagements of
Equity Housing Group into Great Places in April 2020.
Drawn debt (excluding bond premium and including finance leases)
as at December 2020 was GBP584.2m (September 2020: GBP577.4m). The
movement is due to drawdowns from revolving credit facilities
(RCFs) offset by scheduled loan repayments. Great Places sold
GBP70m retained bonds in January 2021 at an all in rate of 2.0%,
thus increasing drawn debt by the nominal bond value GBP70m, and at
the same time we repaid all drawn RCFs.
The Group's Mark to Market exposure at the end of quarter three
is broadly in line with March 2020 decreasing from GBP51.8m to
GBP51.4m. There was GBP28.7m cash collateral posted to meet
counterparties' security requirements, in line with the GBP28.5m
held in March 2020.
Cash balances (excluding cash held on behalf of leaseholders)
were GBP30.5m at the end of quarter three. Excluding our GBP70m
retained bonds, which were sold in January 2021, undrawn bank and
other capital facilities immediately available were GBP146.6m, of
which GBP130.1m is fully secured. Our internal financial "Golden
Rules" around interest cover, gearing and operating margin were all
met at the end of the period.
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Our performance management centres around our Critical Success
Factors ("CSFs") which are designed to focus us on the delivery of
our Corporate Plan, and particularly our vision of "Great Homes,
Great Communities, Great People". We have ten CSFs for 2020/21, as
well as three-year targets and ten-year ambitions within our
Corporate Plan. The CSF targets for 2020/21 were set in March 2020
prior to knowing the extent of the global pandemic. They were
reviewed in quarter two and Board approved changing the targets for
Group Surplus, Average Re-let Time and % of Digitally Active
Tenants.
The CSF performance in quarter three was symptomatic of the
ongoing impact of COVID-19: seven of the CSFs are on or exceeding
target, while the other three CSFs - Development Completions,
Customer Satisfaction & Households into work, training and
volunteering - have seen performance clearly impacted.
Seven of the ten CSFs are all better than or on target,
highlighting our positive performance over quarter three despite
the external circumstances.
Great Places achieved 217 Development completions in the year to
date, with 81 of them being during quarter three, and had over
1,000 homes on site at the end of the quarter. Despite the pace and
other challenges of operating COVID-safe sites, our Development
Team is progressing with starts on site and completions. At the end
of December 2020 we had 29 'live' sites, 13 developments planned to
start on site in quarter four, and numerous new sites being
progressed.
Customer satisfaction was 7.2/10, compared with 7.3/10 at the
end of quarter two. Work continues to address dissatisfaction and
to identify learnings to improve service delivery. It should be
noted that factors such as the ongoing national lockdown and the
impact on our services may influence some of the satisfaction
scores.
Despite the challenging circumstances, Great Places this year
has helped 494 households into work, training and volunteering
(September 2020: 371). Our year end target was 750, so this CSF is
behind the monthly targets that we set before the pandemic. This is
partly due to us diverting resource to support our customers in
financial hardship. At the end of quarter three over 200 hardship
payments were made to customers from the Great Places Hardship
Fund, set up as a direct respond to the pandemic.
CORPORATE NEWS
These stories illustrate some of our recent activities,
particularly in terms of Environmental, Social and Governance.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Great Places' pilot in Trafford improving energy efficiency
Great Places is working with Knauf Energy Solutions (KES) and
Knauf Insulation Northern Europe (KINE) on the renovation of 28 of
our homes in Trafford to make them more energy efficient, and
during quarter three has been able to monitor the results of the
work done last year. This pilot scheme project has helped us to
demonstrate the savings in terms of carbon and money for our
customers. We are working on our 10 year ambitions to improve the
energy efficiency across our homes and achieve an Energy Efficiency
Performance rating of C for all our homes by 2028, helping to lower
running costs for our customers and reducing the incidence of fuel
poverty.
Carbon literacy training is now online and interactive
Great Places' Environmental team designed carbon literacy
training in-house and we provide it to all our colleagues. As an
awarded Carbon Literacy Training Organisation, we also sell the
training to other organisations across various sectors. This year,
working in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University ,
Great Places has delivered Carbon literacy "Train the Trainer"
course to a consortium of housing associations in Wales.
The growing demand for organisations to increase their capacity
to roll out carbon literacy has meant we are over subscribed in our
next open course, due to commence March 2021. For more details
about our Carbon literacy training please contact
Environmental.Team@greatplaces.org.uk
Innovation Chain North adds modular construction offer
Eight modular housing suppliers have been successfully appointed
to a new Dynamic Purchasing System offered as part of Great Places
Housing Group's GBP750m Innovation Chain North (ICN) procurement
framework. The Modular DPS has been set up alongside the existing
ICN framework, to support affordable housing providers with the
delivery of new homes across the north of England. The system will
also support Great Places' commitment to the increasing use of
modular construction methods. For more information visit our
website News page here.
SOCIAL
Customer Annual Report 2020
The Coronavirus pandemic has affected everyone and changed the
way we live our day to day lives. Despite the challenges we made
fantastic progress this year that has made a significant difference
to our customers and communities through projects and initiatives.
Our 2020 Customer Annual Report showcases highlights of the year
and shows how we have performed in the areas that matter most to
our customers.
Great Places secures GBP350,000 to support employment in
Lancashire
Great Places has secured three years of European Social Fund
grant from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) to build on
the success of our existing MPT (More Positive Together) service in
Lancashire. The service is delivered across Lancashire as part of a
consortium of 14 Registered Providers and other services - Great
Places is currently one of the highest performing partners.
The new three year contract will see the delivery of in-work
support for vulnerable customers, helping them to sustain their
employment. Over 50% of the participants are Great Places
customers.
More organisations to receive share of Resilience Fund
In 2020 we launched the Great Places Community Resilience Fund,
which has provided over GBP100,000 of financial support to
community-based projects and initiatives that can, at times, be a
lifeline to customers and make a significant difference to their
lives. In addition to funding directly from Great Places we
received donations from some of our suppliers. For example,
Countryside, one of our development partners, donated GBP20,000. We
are delighted to announce a new round of successful organisations
who will receive a share of the money to support those most
affected by the impacts of Coronavirus.
Social value from our supply chain
Our social value programme is helping to improve lives across
our communities thanks to the organisations working with us through
our supply chain. When we procure we place significant emphasis on
social value, whilst maintaining value for money and quality. For
example, Trowers & Hamlins LLP, one of our suppliers on our
legal framework, donated GBP5,000 in quarter three that provided
Christmas dinners, turned shared gardens into winter wonderlands
and gave gift vouchers to families who may not have been able to
buy presents this year. The donation was distributed between nine
different projects and benefitted almost 300 adults and 80
children.
GBP2.3million 'age friendly' development in Bolton
A new GBP2.3million 'age friendly' development for the over-55s
is to be built in Bolton. Great Places will build 18 one-bedroom
cottage-style apartments in Horace Street, Halliwell, as part of
its extensive development plan across the north. The scheme will be
the first scheme delivered by the Great Places' in-house
construction company Terra Nova Developments Limited. The
apartments have been carefully designed to enable our future
customers to live independently for as long as possible.
GOVERNANCE
Great Places' successful GBP70m retained bond issue
In January 2021 Great Places sold the final GBP70m retained
portion of its existing GBP345m bond (October 2042). The sale was
priced at a spread of 120 bps and an all-in cost of 1.998 per cent.
The money raised will help fund the affordable development
programme. For the full story click here.
Great Places selected as partner on Manchester's Northern
Gateway
Hong Kong-based developer Far East Consortium (FEC) has selected
Great Places as one of three housing associations to help deliver
the first 800 new affordable homes as part of its new 15,000-home
Northern Gateway project in Manchester. For more details read
here.
Offsite Homes Alliance for the North of England
Great Places has joined forces with a group of housing
associations in the North of England to form an alliance with the
ambition of delivering 9,000 offsite homes per year. The newly
launched Offsite Homes Alliance (OSHA) consists of 18 housing
providers, including Great Places, which have agreed to work
together with offsite suppliers to increase the delivery of
factory-built homes. See the full article on the Great Places
website here.
Great Places Group appoints eight firms to its new valuation
panel
Great Places has appointed eight companies to its approved panel
of consultants to deliver valuations and market analysis advice.
The partners will support Great Places' ambitious development and
sales programmes through the supply of market analysis reports and
valuations of land and property.
Hive Homes secures site in Rochdale
Hive Homes, our partnership with 9 other housing associations
and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), has exchanged
contracts with Homes England on its second site - the former
CarCraft site on Nixon Street in Rochdale. Profit generated from
development activity will be returned to investing members to
support their wider community activities across Greater
Manchester.
FEEDBACK
We welcome feedback on our performance update. Please contact
Kal Kay, Director of Finance, on 0161 447 5029 or at
kal.kay@greatplaces.org.uk
The information included within this report is for information
purposes only. The Financial results quoted are unaudited. The
report may contain forward looking statements and actual outcomes
may differ materially. No statement in the report is intended to be
a profit estimate or forecast. We do not undertake to revise such
statements if our expectations change in response to events. This
report does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment
advice.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
QRTEANAAFSNFEEA
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 12, 2021 05:03 ET (10:03 GMT)
Great Places 42 (LSE:15HG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Great Places 42 (LSE:15HG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024