TIDM15HG
RNS Number : 1422T
Great Places Housing Group Limited
10 November 2023
QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE UPDATE
Covering performance for the period ending 30 September 2023
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.
Great Places and MSV ended merger talks
The planned merger between Great Places and MSV is no longer
going ahead. The two organisations announced in September 2023 that
they had ended discussions about coming together. Read more about
it on our website here Great Places and MSV end merger talks -
Great Places.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: QUARTER TWO RESULTS
Surplus before tax in the half year to the end of September 2023
was GBP13.0m, on track to achieve an expected year surplus of
GBP28.0m (2022/23 GBP21.4m). The year end figure incorporates
increased repairs and maintenance expenditure which is largely due
to the costs of surveying and remediating cases of damp, mould and
condensation, and also higher than budgeted insurance costs
following our October renewal. Overall turnover, other elements of
operating costs and net interest costs remain broadly in line with
budget. The forecast operating margin of 27% is an improvement on
the 24% achieved in 2022/23.
Shared ownership sales remain positive with 157 sales achieved
to date (full year budget 278, 2022/23 192). Sales demand is
strong, values are holding firm and whilst there has been a slight
reduction in the first tranche percentage being purchased, this is
still higher than budgeted.
Drawn debt (excluding bond premium, other non-cash balances and
loan fees) as at September 2023 was GBP639.5m (March 2023:
GBP643.7m) with the movement due to scheduled loan repayments and
release of finance leases liabilities following a successful
acquisition of two long term leases.
Mark to Market exposure was GBP1.1m gross and GBP0.7m net of
exposures in Great Places' favour (March 2023: GBP7.9m net) with
Nil cash collateral posted to meet counterparties' security
requirements (March 2023: nil). This shows the impact of the some
upward movement in long term interest rates, reducing exposure on
interest rate derivatives.
Cash balances (excluding cash held on behalf of leaseholders)
were GBP67.4m (March 2023: GBP92.9m) with undrawn bank facilities
immediately available of GBP143.8m.
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 eleven CSFs for 2023/24, set in March 2023. Six CSFs are
achieving target, one is showing an early warning, and four are
currently missing target.
The CSFs achieving or better than target are:
-- Arrears 4.6%, lower than the target to maintain the 4.7% reported in March;.
-- 2.6 % days lost due to sickness, improved over recent months and lower than 3.2% target;
-- 84% colleague engagement following a mid year pulse survey (target 80%);
-- 70.3% overall satisfaction, broadly in line with the 70.0% target;
-- Data completeness 85.6%, progressing due to new customer
agreements, validated property data and customer data; and
-- 987 Households into work, training or volunteering, which has
already achieved the year-end target of 950.
The CSF showing an early warning is the Tenant Satisfaction
Measure "Satisfaction that the Home is safe" which is currently
81.5% (year-end target 85%). We are analysing this to further
understand which customers and which property types are
concerned.
Development completions: the affordable homes CSF target for the
full year is 786, but this is looking at risk due to delays, almost
entirely due to a single scheme in Manchester which includes 80
apartments. Sixteen sites are now nearing completion with a high
volume of handovers forecast for quarter three and four.
% Digitally Active Tenants current performance is 38% (target
40%). We are launching a self-serve repairs portal for customers,
to be piloted in one of our four regions in quarter three.
The voids re-let time at September was 27.7 days, higher than
the year-end target 25.0 days but showing improvement from the 28.9
days reported in quarter one. It will be challenging to achieve our
year-end target given the competing pressures in our Repairs team
with operatives being used to support damp and mould treatments
arising from our proactive customer campaigns and responsive damp
inspections, which in turn is impacting timescales to carry out
void relet repair works.
The CSF for Group surplus before tax of GBP31.7m will not be
achieved due to increased R&M and insurance costs as referred
to above in the Financial Performance section.
CORPORATE NEWS
These stories illustrate some of our recent activities,
particularly in terms of Environmental, Social and Governance.
Sustainability Reporting Standard ESG Report now live
Reporting against The Sustainability Reporting Standard for
social housing providers, our ESG Report 2022/23 outlines how we
are doing as an organisation in relation to the standard's 48
criteria, covering a range of ESG considerations such as
affordability, building safety and net-zero carbon emissions. The
report also includes case studies, assessments and analyses that
illustrate the extent and quality of our ESG impact. It can be
viewed on our website ESG Report - Great Places
ENVIRONMENTAL
Richmond Park heat network upgrade
Great Places' customers are among the thousands of customers set
to benefit from Government support to upgrade old, inefficient heat
networks. The Richmond Park estate in Sheffield is one of the
projects approved to receive Government support as part of the
first round of awards to be made under the GBP32m Heat Network
Efficiency Scheme (HNES). The GBP1.6m grant will help fund
improvements to the efficiency of the Richmond Park heat network,
which serves close to 300 homes. The project will address high heat
loss issues, poor insulation and old equipment, with an overall
cost of GBP3m.
SOCIAL
Great Places launches Resilience Fund grants 2023
Building on the previous success of our grants to organisations
offering support to Great Places' customers and the local community
with the cost-of-living crisis, we are pleased to announce that
GBP100k in grants will be available through this year's Greater
Together Foundation Resilience Fund. Grants of up to GBP10k will be
made available to organisations that can clearly demonstrate
support with economic hardship; economically inactive people;
financial resilience; health and wellbeing; or digital
inclusion.
Furniture donation to help empower women
Great Places made a furniture donation to SAWN - Support and
Action for Women's Network - after refurbishment of both our Oldham
Office and Keyworker Accommodation (Great Places temporary
accommodation for NHS workers). SAWN are an organisation in Oldham
dedicated to uplifting women from diverse backgrounds, empowering
them to lead independent and fulfilling lives. For women who have
experienced domestic violence, homelessness or financial struggles,
acquiring essential furniture can be a significant obstacle to
regaining a sense of normality.
GOVERNANCE
Brownfield grant funding unlocks the delivery of 500+ new homes
across Greater Manchester
Great Places Housing Group is set to deliver more than 500 new
homes across Greater Manchester after a new grant from Greater
Manchester Combined Authority's (GMCA) Brownfield Housing Fund.
Great Places has received an allocation of GBP8.4m in the 2023
round of funding, on top of the GBP4.3m allocation from 2022, to
unlock the delivery of the new homes across six of the 10 Greater
Manchester districts for a range of tenures from Social Rent to
Shared Ownership.
GBP1.5bn Innovation Chain North framework
Innovation Chain North's (ICN) latest construction procurement
framework, valued at GBP1.5bn, is now open for bids from consultant
and contractor suppliers interested in delivering mixed-use housing
and associated social infrastructure across the North of England.
Founded in 2012 and led by Great Places, the framework will run for
four years (2024 - 2028) and suppliers will be able to secure
contracts from ICN clients once accepted onto the framework. The
building contractor lots will include high-value and low-value
bands, apartment specialists and construction services providing a
wraparound to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
technologies.
Customer Annual Report 2022/23
Our Customer Annual Report for 2022/23 is now published on our
website here: Customer Annual Report 2023 - Great Places. Our
customers are at the very heart of everything we do and their
voices feature heavily in this report, alongside performance
information and business updates.
Board member and Executive changes
We're pleased to announce news of some exciting developments
within our Board. Tony Davison's tenure as our Chair is coming to
an end after ten years in the role. For continuity, it was agreed
that we would recruit a Chair from our existing Board with Mervyn
Jones being appointed to take over as Chair on 1 January 2024.
In September 2023 three Board members stepped down: David
Robinson and Nahim Ruhi-Khan from the Group Board and Babar Ahmad
from the Cube Board. Following her appointment as Chair of Cube
Board on 21 September 2023, Emma Mountford was also appointed to
the Group Board on 1 November 2023. These planned changes were in
part due to the proposed merger and in part due to members nearing
the ends of their terms of office. We are currently recruiting new
Board members. We are also advertising for up to seven customers to
join our new Customer Committee.
Great Places has appointed Mike Gerrard as our new Chief
Financial Officer, to join Great Places in quarter three. Mike has
extensive experience in the not for profit and private sectors,
most recently being Chief Financial Officer at Onward Homes.
FEEDBACK
We welcome feedback on our performance update. Please contact
Phil Elvy, Executive Director of Finance, at
communications@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
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END
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