REG - Great Places Housing - GREAT PLACES MARCH 2023 YEAR END RESULTS

Moody'sAnnouncement

28/09/2023 14:15

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RNS Number : 0369O  Great Places Housing Group Limited  28 September 2023

GREAT PLACES HOUSING GROUP LIMITED

£345,000,000 4.75 per cent Secured Bonds due 2042 (ISIN Number XS0842152281)

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2023

At the AGM of Great Places Housing Group Limited ("Great Places") on 21st
September 2023 the shareholders agreed and adopted the Financial Statements
for the year ending 31st March 2023.

It should be noted that the Financial Statements contain several references to
the intended merger between Great Places Housing Group and Mosscare St
Vincents Housing Group (MSV) which was to take place during the 2023/24
financial year, however since signing the accounts the merger discussions have
ended.

Links to the Financial Statements, and the statement issued on 15(th)
September 2023 regarding the ending of merger discussions, are provided at the
end of this announcement.

In 2022/23 the Group generated Turnover of £168M, up by 1% from the £166M
recorded in 2021/22 with Turnover from social housing lettings of £121.3M
(2021/22: £114.8M).

Turnover from shared ownership first tranche sales and open market sales was
£34.3M (2021/22: £40.0M) and, whilst lower than the prior year, is in line
with our planned Development Programme.

Operating surplus of £45.9M was 1.8% lower than 2021/22 with Operating Margin
declining slightly to 23.6% from 25.3% (as defined by the RSH VFM metric). The
reduction was mainly due to the inflationary increases around maintenance
costs and building safety costs.

Total Fixed Assets were £1.48bn (2022/23: £1.41bn).

Total debt was £697.8M (2021/22: £709.1M) with the majority of our debt,
95.4% being fixed rate and protecting us from the high interest rates seen
during the year. In addition, we held Group cash balances of £96m.

Operational performance remained strong despite the challenging economic and
operating environments and external pressures including rising material and
labour costs, significantly increasing energy costs and high inflation levels.
In addition, there was a cap on rents, imposed by Government, effective from
April 2023, that was well below the levels of inflation, which adds to the
many challenges that we face.

We had expected that general inflationary pressures to significantly impact
tenant arrears, however this was mitigated by support provided to our tenants
through energy bill support and our Hardship and Community Resilience Funds.
We recognise that the cost of living crisis will continue to put increased
pressure on arrears performance.

Customer safety remains paramount, and we continue to assess our buildings and
carry out works to meet building safety legislation, spending £2.2m during
2022/23.

Our commitment to improving energy efficiency in our homes is continuing, with
a target to achieve EPC C by 2028, and we have been successful in securing
£1.4m of funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund which will be
match funded by Great Places. We plan to use this to support the installation
of energy performance measures in 396 of our homes in Manchester and
Sheffield. We have also been successful in our bid for £1.6m of grant funding
to improve heat networks which serve circa 300 residents.

Repairs continue to be the most regularly accessed service by our customers,
with approximately 58,000 repairs requests during 2022/23 equating to
approximately 225 jobs each working day. The greater demand during 2022/23 can
be partially attributed to increased media focus on property condition in the
sector, together with our proactive campaigns to report issues, with damp and
mould inspections increasing significantly since October 2022. Resources have
been prioritised on these inspections and rectification works with the vast
majority highlighting issues around high condensation levels and increased
humidity rather than severe structural issues. The works associated with these
inspections are being delivered by both the in-house and sub-contractor teams.

During the year we completed 649 much needed new affordable homes and, at
31(st) March 2023, own or manage 25,474 homes across the North West and South
Yorkshire.

In addition to the completions, there were 852 affordable homes started across
17 sites and despite the continuing challenges for the development sector, as
at the end of March 2023, we had 37 live sites with around 1,600 new homes
being built.

The Group is committed to playing its part in tackling the housing crisis and
providing much needed affordable homes. In September 2021, we were extremely
pleased to be selected as a Strategic Partner for the Strategic Partnership 2
with Homes England, securing £240.8m of grant funding to help us to deliver
4,920 homes by 2028. The challenges faced, including increasing cost pressures
meant that we recently held further discussions around our delivery
expectations with Homes England and we can confirm that our delivery volumes
will be reducing slightly to 4,500 and our grant increasing to £270m.

The Regulator of Social housing (the "regulator") graded Great Places as G1/V2
in December 2022 as part of a review cycle. The regrade to V2 for so many in
the sector is reflective of the environment in which we operate, however
retaining our G1 grade demonstrates our strong Governance and Financial
Management arrangements helping us manage any increased risks.

Our credit ratings with Moodys, A3 and Fitch, A+, were also reaffirmed during
the year demonstrating that we remain a financially strong and resilient
organisation with strong governance and a sound business strategy.

As a profit for purpose organisation, we ensure that all our surpluses are
invested in line with our values and to meet our vision of "Great Homes, Great
People, Great Communities".

The Financial Statements for Great Places are available on our website at:

https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/about-us/corporate-and-investor-information/financial-accounts
(https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/about-us/corporate-and-investor-information/financial-accounts)

Great Places statement from 15(th) September 2023 with regards to merger
discussions:

https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/?news=great-places-and-msv-end-merger-talks
(https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/?news=great-places-and-msv-end-merger-talks)

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