FULL YEAR RESULTS STATEMENT
Continued strong growth - well positioned for the future
UNAUDITED RESULTS FOR YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2015
Results highlights
Positioned for growth
- Record private forward sales position at £137.5m (2014: £137.3m)
- Private Average Selling Price £385k up 16.8% (2014: £329k)
- Number of open sales outlets at year end 29 (2014: 26) with a further 39 (2014: 23) under construction
- Land bank of 26,213 plots (2014: 23,990) with 14,648 plots with planning consent (2014: 13,408 plots)
- Revolving credit facility to be extended to £265m, expiring 2019
- Net debt of £59.5m (2014: £85.7m) down £26.2m
- Continued strengthening of the Board with the appointment of Rebecca Worthington as CFO and Richard Adam as NED and Chair of the Audit Committee during the year
- Well on track for medium term growth objectives of over 3,600 completions per year; operating margin of over 17% and improvement in ROCE to over 28%
Outlook and current trading
We continue to experience the strong visitor levels, net sales reservation rates and selling price growth we have seen throughout 2015 and have entered 2016 with a record private order book. We have excellent visibility of future growth given the pipeline of land options and development agreements under our control and the growing number of sites under construction. The planning environment has improved since the General Election allowing us to further increase our site numbers. We continue to expand our Partnerships business, both in the north and south as the push for urban regeneration increases. We anticipate that with strong visibility of our future earnings, we remain firmly on track to deliver our medium term growth plans.
Canning Town affordable housing
The partnership will see a range of high quality brand new homes built on vacant land owned by the council in five locations across Knowsley.
Last week, the council’s Planning Committee granted permission for developments on Scotchbarn Lane in Prescot and Arncliffe Road in Halewood.
Countryside has submitted detailed plans which will be considered by the Planning Committee in the next couple of months for the other proposed developments at: Greensbridge Lane in Halewood; Roby Road in Huyton and Tower Hill in Kirkby.
A total of 583 high quality new homes, ranging in size from two to five bedroomed properties, are proposed to be built across the five sites. These will include some affordable homes available to buy on a shared ownership basis.
Knowsley Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development, Cllr Mike Murphy, said: “I’m delighted that we are working with Countryside to regenerate different areas of Knowsley and deliver high quality housing developments. Countryside has a well-deserved reputation as one of the UK’s most successful housing developers and is precisely the calibre of partner we want to work with.
“This partnership gives us the opportunity to regenerate Knowsley and improve the range of quality housing available both to existing Knowsley residents and to attract new people to choose to move into the borough.”
Philip Whitehead, Regional Regeneration Director for Countryside, said: “This major initiative in Knowsley comprises a range of projects in which affordable housing will be seamlessly integrated with other tenures including private rent.
“We’re extremely pleased to be working alongside Knowsley Council to further enhance their communities by providing a varied selection of high quality homes that will cater for the needs of first time buyers, growing families and aspirational movers alike.
“We are delighted to be working in Knowsley and feel fortunate to be playing our part in its future development.”
The first development will start on site in Spring 2016.
The full statement is available here
Further Reading
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