Harworth Group lays firm foundations as its profits grow
Property developer, Harworth Group says its 2020 results give it “great confidence in the strength and resilience” of the business as it shares its unaudited figures for the year ending 31 December 2020.
The Rotherham-headquartered regenerator of land and property for sustainable development and investment saw operating profits of £27.8m in 2020 an increase of 14% on 2019s figures.
Over the year, despite Covid-19 the firm states it has been able to “deliver the substantial works” it had planned across its sites.
It also highlighted that demand for its serviced land remained strong, with sales of 92.7 acres all being completed at pricing ahead of the 2019 book value, generating £49.6m.
Look ahead at its pipeline, the business has also secured planning consent for 1.1m sq ft of industrial space and 300 residential plots over the year and is currently awaiting a decision on a further 1.3m sq ft of employment space and 2,500 homes.
The business did see a reduction at the half year in the value of its portfolio – which it explains was “inevitable” given the market uncertainty at the time, however it added that valuations moved forward strongly in the second half of the year.
Over 2020 the business shifted to grow its income producing portfolio – acquiring four income-producing sites -Thorne Road Industrial Estate, Dudley; Saturn Park, Knowsley; and two Short Term Operating Reserve facilities in Gloucester and Newport – for a total of £40m reflecting a NET Initial Yield of 8.4%.
It also disposed of 2,335 acres of non-core assets including agricultural land and mature income sites which have limited development potential.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive, Harworth Group
The last year also saw changes at the top of the business with Owen Michaelson retiring after 10 years as the firm’s chief executive officer, while Lynda Shillaw, an experienced real estate executive having previously worked for Town Centre Securities and Manchester Airport Group, took over the reigns.
Shillaw commented: “I joined Harworth as group chief executive officer at the beginning of November 2020, arriving in the business as the country went into a second Covid-19 lockdown.
“The pandemic has dominated 2020 for most businesses, and Harworth has been no exception: that said, our performance in 2020 was very robust and we successfully navigated the resulting changes to working practices, maintaining focus on delivery throughout the year.”
She added that although the impact of the pandemic will likely be felt for years to come with the laying bare of “significant social divides” both economic and digital, Harworth’s work “matters” and it “intends to play a leading role in the Government’s levelling up agenda and in driving the green economy in the UK”.
Looking ahead Shillaw, said: “While it seems that there is still some way to go to get back to a normal business environment in 2021, our results for 2020 give us great confidence in the strength and resilience of our underlying business and our ability to grow and prosper, despite the disruption caused by Covid-19.
“Demand for our serviced land has remained strong and we continue to see this in the first few months of 2021 as we also make progress across the portfolio and explore potential acquisitions.
“Together with our strong balance sheet and opportunities in our core residential and logistics sectors, we are very well-placed to trade successfully through the pandemic and play a key role in delivering the infrastructure the country needs for regional economic recovery and long-term growth.”
Harworth’s share price was up at close on Monday to 127p per share, its highest value since March 2020. It marks a move towards a return to the value seen before the pandemic hit the stock market.
