Optimism for property group amidst tough economic environment
Regeneration specialist, Harworth Group, says it remains confident in its ambition of becoming a £1bn business in 2027, as it publishes full year results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023.
It reported total revenues of £72.4m (2022: £166.7m) and pre-tax profits of £49.8m (2022: £30.9m) with year-end net debt of £36.4m (31 December 2022: £48.4m).
Harworth also reported available liquidity of £192.2m at year-end (31 December 2022: £175.6m) which, coupled with its ability to generate cash through land sales, allows it to self-fund its development pipeline. No major refinancing is required until 2027.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive, said: “We remain confident of achieving our strategic ambition of becoming a £1bn business by the end of 2027.
“I am delighted with the performance of the business over the year, which was a tough one against a continued challenging macroeconomic backdrop, ongoing structural changes in parts of the market and domestic political uncertainty.
Lynda Shillaw
“So far in 2024, macroeconomic conditions remain challenging but there are signs of optimism.
“Our key markets remain characterised by structural undersupply and we are seeing good demand for our serviced residential land as well as high levels of occupier interest in our employment sites.”
During 2023, Harworth developed 193,000 sq ft of industrial and logistics space, with a remaining pipeline of 37.7m sq ft.
This included a completed development of 110,000 sq ft of Grade A space at Gateway 36 in Barnsley and 83,000 sq ft at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham.
Over the same period, 1,170 residential plots were sold, with an extensive remaining pipeline of 27,190 plots.
Nine transactions were completed with six different housebuilders, comprising national and regional operators, which Harworth says demonstrated sustained demand for its de-risked residential serviced land.
The group further strengthened its pipeline through acquisitions and planning progress to unlock high value uses.
Acquisitions added 1.8m sq ft of industrial and logistics space and 809 residential plots to Harworth’s pipeline with several other significant transactions going through the legal process.
Harworth also secured outline planning consent for 397 residential units, with a further 500 units approved after the year-end, and 1.1m sq ft of industrial and logistics space.
