City round-up: Together; AstraZeneca; In the Style; Redrow

Together Financial Services, the Cheadle-based specialist mortgage and secured loans providers, has announced the issue of £120m of its 47/8% Senior Secured Notes, due 2026, through its wholly owned subsidiary Jerrold FinCo.

Following significant demand, the aggregate principal amount of the offering was increased from £100m to £120m.

The gross proceeds of the offering are expected to be used for general corporate purposes, to repay amounts outstanding under the revolving credit facility and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the offering.

Gerald Grimes, CEO designate of Together, said: “We are delighted with the success of this £120m further issuance, which is a testament to the attractiveness of our 47-year track record, proven business model and financial strength.

“The issuance, which was upsized by £20m on the back of strong investor support, provides additional headroom as we continue to shape our business for an exciting future.”

Gary Beckett, group managing director and chief treasury officer at Together, said: “Alongside our established securitisations and residential and commercial real estate MBS programmes, our bonds are an important cornerstone of our financing.

“This bond tap is our seventh successful funding transaction since January, underlining the quality of our loan book and the continued investor support for the Together growth story.”

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Astrazeneca’s Speke site

Pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca, issued figures for its third quarter and year so far, this morning.

The group employs around 4,700 people in the North West on sites at Macclesfield and Alderley Park in Cheshire and Speke on Merseyside.

It said total revenue in the year to date, including the Alexion acquisition, from July 21, 2021, was $25.406bn, representing growth of 32%. Total revenue in the third quarter increased by 50% to $9.866bn.

Excluding the pandemic COVID-19 vaccine, total revenue increased 21% in the year to date to $23.187bn, and by 34% in the quarter to $8.816bn.

It said, for the full year, it expects total revenue, excluding the COVID-19 vaccine, to grow by a low-20s percentage, in line with prior guidance. Including vaccine revenues in Q4 2021, revenue is expected to grow by a mid-to-high 20s percentage.

For the year to date, pre-tax profits were $371m, compared with $2.749bn the previous year. Third quarter figures showed a pre-tax loss of $2bn, against a pre-tax profit of $853m a year ago.

Chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said: “AstraZeneca’s scientific leadership continues to provide strong revenue growth and exceptional pipeline delivery, with eight positive late-stage readouts across seven medicines since June, including our long acting antibody combination showing promise in both prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

“The addition of Alexion furthers our commitment to bring transformative therapies to patients around the world, and I am proud of our colleagues’ ongoing dedication and focus.

“Our broad portfolio of medicines and diversified geographic exposure provides a robust platform for long term sustainable growth. Following accelerated investment in upcoming launches after positive data flow, we expect a solid finish to the year and our earnings guidance is unchanged.”

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Adam Frisby

Manchester online fashion brand In The Style said today that Sam Perkins will become group chief executive from January 17.

Having led the company for the past seven years, including through its successful IPO earlier this year, Adam Frisby, founder and CEO of the group, has taken the decision to become chief brand officer, a newly-created board level executive director role with responsibility for developing the group’s influencer partnerships and the brand’s creative direction.

Adam, alongside the rest of the In The Style board, believes these appointments will enable the group to deliver the next stages of long term growth ambitions and achieve the brand’s significant potential.

Sam has a successful and proven track record of delivering strategic and commercial success across multichannel and pureplay retailers.

He joins In The Style from Liverpool-based The Very Group, where he has held the role of managing director of the group’s retail division since 2018, and has helped to drive the company’s transformation from a multi-brand catalogue business to a fast-paced pure-play retailer.

The Very Group is one of the UK’s largest digital pure-play businesses and owner of the Very and Littlewoods brands. In 2021, its retail division recorded revenues of more than £1.9bn. Prior to joining The Very Group in 2015 as group merchandising director, Sam held various leadership roles at Tesco and previously held senior roles at Nestle and PepsiCo.

Jim Sharp, non-executive chairman, said: “We are delighted that Sam will join In The Style as the group’s new CEO.

“Not only is Sam a truly outstanding candidate with a proven track record of delivering transformational growth at some of the UK’s best known retail brands, but his appointment as CEO will also enable Adam to focus his energy and talent on the newly-created role of chief brand officer with responsibility for developing In The Style’s influencer relationships, leading the group’s product design, and spearheading the brand’s creative development.

“Sam’s decision to join In The Style is testament to the group’s exciting ambitions and opportunities. I have every confidence that Sam and Adam will form a formidable partnership to drive forward the brand’s continued expansion.”

Sam Perkins, said: “In The Style is a fantastic, innovative brand at an incredibly exciting time in its growth journey. The brand stands out in the market for its truly differentiated model and authentic inclusive brand values.

“Adam is an inspirational founder and I have huge admiration for the business that he has built. I am looking forward to working alongside him and the rest of the senior management team to continue the group’s exciting growth and successfully deliver on its significant long-term potential.”

Adam Frisby said: “I’m really pleased to welcome Sam to In The Style. Not only does he have a fantastic track record at some amazing retail businesses, but it’s also clear that we share a common vision for the future of In The Style.

“With the scale of the business that we are today, and with the many growth opportunities we have to go after, I felt that now is the right time to further strengthen our senior management team. Sam brings relevant experience of scaling up very successful retail brands and his appointment will enable me to focus on the areas of the business where the board and I believe I can make the biggest contributions to our future success.

“I’m really looking forward to working closely with Sam to successfully grow this wonderful brand and am incredibly excited about its future.”

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Richard Akers

Housebuilder Redrow said it has begun its new financial year in a strong position. Ahead of its annual general meeting in London this morning, chairman Richard Akers issued a statement to be delivered to shareholders in which he says: “We entered the new financial year with a robust housing market and trading has remained strong.

“The value of net private reservations in the 19 weeks to 5 November 2021 was two per cent above the prior year at £672m (2021: £658m). The private revenue per outlet per week was £309k compared to £298k last year. Reservations per outlet per week for the period were a more normal 0.68 compared to the unusually high 0.75 last year. Help to Buy accounted for only nine per cent of private reservations in the period.”

Redrow, based in Ewloe, near Chester, said the average selling price of private reservations for the first 19 weeks was up 14% on the equivalent period last year at £453,000, against £398,000.

The group has operated from an average of 114 outlets in the year to date, down from 116 previously. Due to the ongoing strength of the sales market, Redrow continues to expect the average outlets for the full financial year will be 112, in line with guidance given in September.

Despite the well publicised material shortages and supply interruptions facing the industry the group is working successfully with its long standing supply partners to ensure build output remains at normal levels. The group estimates that overall build cost inflation will be around five per cent for the current financial year.

The statement says: “With the strength of our order book, ongoing sales rates and the increase in private average selling prices, we now expect our turnover for 2022 to be c£2.1bn, and our operating margin to be c19%.

“During the period we have added 1,400 plots to our current land holdings and 95 plots to our forward land holdings (2021: 457 plots and 119 plots).”

The balance sheet remains strong and at the end of week 19 Redrow had net cash of £297m, compared with £150m in 2020: £150m. The group continues to expect to have net cash of around £200m at the end of June 2022.

Mr Akers will tell the meeting: “As a result of our strategy to grow the business outside London, with a strong focus on our industry leading product and placemaking, we expect to deliver results in the 2022 financial year approaching those achieved in 2019.”

Sir Michael Lyons will step down from the board today after almost seven years’ service.