Profits surge at St Modwen
DEVELOPER St Modwen has seen its profits before tax increase by 68% over the last 12 months.
Announcing its annual results for the year ended November 30, the firm revealed profit before all tax of £138.1m (2013: £82.2m). Property profits were up 45% to £57.7m (2013: £39.8m).
Financial highlights of the period in question include its debt portfolio fully refinanced, with earliest maturity now 2018, and the successful launch of a £100m convertible bond.
St Modwen is working on a number of major regeneration projects including a scheme in Farnworth, Bolton, but recently suffered a setback to its plans to build more than 200 homes at Wigan Enterprise Park when planning was refused.
St Modwen has also benefited from a resurgent residential market. Housebuilding activities delivered a 167% increase in residential profits to £24m (2013: £9m).
Bill Oliver, chief executive said: “This has been an exceptional year for St Modwen and we have achieved significant progress across all of our major projects as well as increasing our active pipeline of commercial development opportunities to over 3m sq ft of space.
“The residential part of the business continues to perform well with good sales rates achieved throughout the year and we anticipate a sustained performance into 2015.
“Across the UK, we continued to grow the business, capitalising on the upturn in the regional property market and we look forward to continuing this level of success throughout the coming year.”
