Construction firm announces stock market listing

CONSTRUCTION firm Watkin Jones plans to raise £255m in an initial public offering to the stock market later this month, in what is thought to be the largest flotation since North West fashion retailer Boohoo.com listed two year ago.

The Bangor-headquartered developer, which also has an office in Runcorn and focuses on the student accommodation sector, said it will float on AIM on March 23.

The company said its competitive advantage lies in its business model, offering end to end solutions for investors across the entire life cycle of an asset including site procurement, planning application, transaction funding, construction and delivery, and asset management.

It said the listing would enhance the profile and reputation of the group and enable it to expand the business further into the private rented sector to capitalise on the similarities of this business with its core student accommodation expertise, adding that it would engage its existing relationships with institutional investors to forward fund these projects and minimise development risk.

Turnover was £244.2m for the year to the end of September 2015 (2014: £227.3 million) and operating profit from continuing operations stood at £32.5m (2014: £15m).  

Mark Watkin Jones, chief executive of Watkin Jones, said: “We are delighted to announce our plans to join the AIM market. The entire team has worked hard to establish our position as a leader in the UK student accommodation development market, and it is this ability and ambition that will allow us to capitalise on the significant opportunities ahead.”

 

“The PBSA market in particular has huge potential and is supported by a number of long term growth drivers. We look forward to continuing to grow our business as a publicly quoted company.”

Manchester-based Zeus Capital is acting as nominated adviser, joint bookrunner and joint broker to the company with Peel Hunt acting as joint bookrunner and joint broker.