City Briefs; MJ Gleeson; Persimmon; and more

Sheffield-headquartered house builder MJ Gleeson has confirmed it is beginning a phased re-start of activity at its 67 sites.

The company says it will have reopened up to half of its sites for limited build activity by the end of this week and all sites will have reopened by the end of June.  

Initial on-site activity through May and June will focus on preparing site infrastructure and other ground-level works ahead of building out our forward order book.

The business will also begin to reopen sales offices this week on a regional hub basis, and will have 19 sales offices covering all 67 sites open within two weeks.

Its update adds: “We announced on 6 April 2020 that, in line with the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, the company was furloughing a total of 456 employees, representing 76% of the workforce.

“Over the coming weeks we will begin to bring colleagues off furlough in line with the phased return to work. We hope to have all furloughed colleagues back at work by the end of July.

“The company has a strong balance sheet with cash balances at 30 April 2020 of £83.9m.

“This includes £60m drawn on the company’s committed bank facility and £16m following a placing of shares on 14 April 2020 to facilitate an efficient and rapid return to work on existing sites and progress its new site opening programme.

“In addition, the company has a £10m committed overdraft facility which is currently undrawn.”

 James Thomson, chief executive officer, said: “We welcome the Government’s assistance in facilitating our return to work to build much needed homes.

“It will be some time before we can accurately assess demand but we are encouraged by the level of interest from prospective buyers in just the last few days.

“Our segment of the market is typically the one that recovers the fastest.”

:::

David Jenkinson

House builder Persimmon says it will reopen its sales offices in England tomorrow. (15 May)

The York-headquartered business stresses all sales offices and show homes will reopen with strict new social distancing and additional hygiene measures in place.

Initially, sales consultations will be on a pre-booked appointment basis only.

Persimmon had already begun a phased return to work on its construction sites in England and Wales on 27 April.

The firm’s update explains: “This process continues to progress smoothly and to plan. During the week beginning 4 May 2020 about 65% of production capacity had been restored.

“The Group’s businesses in Scotland remain in shutdown, pending further guidance on a restart timetable from the Scottish Government.

“In the eight weeks ended 10 May 2020 the Group secured 1,351 gross private sales reservations, with a total of 1,300 legal completions being made in the same period.”

David Jenkinson, CEO, said: “The urgent need for new homes has not been diminished by COVID-19 and the new measures announced by the Government will re-open the housing market and allow people to get moving again.

“Persimmon decided not to access any form of Government support during the shutdown period and has maintained its commitments to its colleagues and communities in full throughout.

“Now, as we re-start activity, this decision is also enabling us to get back to work swiftly and safely.”

:::

Bradford-headquartered Safestyle, a retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors, has also outlined plans to restart its operations.

The company has released a statement from its chairman, Alan Lovell, in advance of its presentation at the firm’s AGM today.

Lovell says: “Immediately following the temporary cessation of our operations in March, the company raised £8.5m in a share placing and obtained a covenant waiver on its existing borrowing facilities for the duration of the lockdown period from its lenders.

“In light of the Government’s updated guidelines, the Group’s senior management are now planning a restart of our commercial operations.  

“The plan is based on a phased and measured return to work for the business and involves a number of temporary changes to our policies and practices to ensure staff and customer safety.

“With the necessary health and safety measures in place, the company is currently expecting to restart operations, including manufacturing, installations, surveying and selling activities by the end of May.

“Clearly there are high levels of uncertainty around consumer demand for the year ahead, the challenges of selling in home and the competitive environment.  

“The company will seek to adjust to this operating context rapidly.

“It will continue to utilise the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as required through the summer, whilst maintaining tight controls on the Group’s cost base and closely monitoring available liquidity.”