Residential resurgence provides boost for St Modwen

BIRMINGHAM developer St Modwen is benefiting from the on-going strengthening of the housing market, the firm said this morning.

In an interim management statement to the London Stock Exchange, St Modwen said it had continued to perform strongly since its half year results were issued on July 2.

The firm also suggested there is a greater sense of optimism in the regional commercial property sector.

“Whilst recovery in some areas of the market remains slower, improving consumer sentiment, supportive Government schemes and an increasingly stable economy are contributing to a notably more positive market outlook than we have seen for some time,” it said. 

“This, combined with the success of our on-going asset management activities, points to profits and cashflows remaining consistent with management expectations for the 2013 financial year.”

The firm said demand for its residential land continues to grow with active land transactions indicating some upside against book valuations.
 
“We are achieving steady sales rates across our St. Modwen Homes sites and those developed in our joint venture with Persimmon,” it said.
 
St Modwen said that for this quarter, the key highlight amongst its four major projects is the Longbridge regeneration scheme in Birmingham, where the first phase of the town centre is now open for trading.

“We expect to submit an application for phase two shortly,” it said.
 
Chief executive Bill Oliver said: “Confidence in the residential market continues to grow across the UK and we are also seeing more optimism in the regional secondary commercial market which we hope will result in increasing levels of activity. 

“Against this background, our ability to add value across our portfolio through effective asset management and planning expertise is resulting in an increasingly active, well-let development pipeline. This, coupled with our strong balance sheet, means we anticipate delivering continued growth for our shareholders.”