Future bright for Keepmoat
The chief executive of Yorkshire housing specialist Keepmoat has said the group’s future is “brighter than ever”.
Last year the Doncaster-headquartered company merged with Apollo businesses and together with Keepmoat Homes, now forms the £1bn Keepmoat group.
In its annual financial results for the year ended March 31 2013, Keepmoat reported revenue of £886m – an increase from £676.1m last year – and adjusted EBITDA of £52.2m, compared to £35.2m in 2012. The business announced profit before tax of £37.2m compared to a loss of £31.5m in 2012.
In October, the firm completed a major recapitalisation resulting in the debt obligations being significantly reduced from £648m to £300m. It also delivered synergy savings of £12m on an annualised basis and a strong pipeline at over £2.1bn.
CEO David Sheridan, said: “The future of Keepmoat is brighter than it has ever been and I would like to thank everyone who has played a part in this achievement. I am proud to be part of a business with such strong solid foundations and a clear vision for the future.
“The financial future of Keepmoat was secured through a very successful recapitalisation and refinancing of the business that supports its growth over the coming few years.
“We’ve worked through the significant loss making contracts that affected the business in the previous year and put in place measures to prevent those happening again and we have strengthened our financial reporting and internal controls.
“Our pipeline is strong and we are continuing to win new business.”
Group chairman, Peter Warry, said the last year has been “the most eventful” in the group’s history but it is now in a stronger financial position due to the successful refinancing and significant debt reduction.
He said: “A year on, I am pleased to report further improvements that demonstrate clear progress towards our vision of being renowned as a national leader in community regeneration, housing and property services.
“Against a continually difficult economic backdrop, we have significantly strengthened our offer, improved our leadership team and have a robust balance sheet to support our long-term plans.
“Our vision for the future is to be nationally renowned as a trusted partner for community regeneration, new homes and property services.”
The Keepmoat group, a subsidiary of the Lakeside group, employs 2,900 people across the business, has 439 active sites and 22 offices.
It said it is now focussing on areas of the business it sees potential for growth, including reducing carbon emissions from homes and organically growing Keepmoat Property Services.
Keepmoat expects to benefit from the Government’s £100bn Investing in Britain’s Future infrastructure plan from 2015 and said it continues to set new benchmarks in its senior living division, delivering over 550 specialist units across the UK in 2012.
CFO, James Thomson, said: “This robust financial performance was achieved amidst a very difficult and challenging economic environment in the UK and we continue our strategic focus as a key social and affordable housing solutions provider.
“Our future is supported by an impressive social housing regeneration order book of £1.2bn and secured plots in hand totalling 16,946.”
Keepmoat is one of the major providers of social and affordable housing solutions in the UK.
In the year to March 31 2013, Keepmoat Homes, the new build homes business, delivered 1,506 new homes and is on track to exceed 1,800 in the current financial year.
Keepmoat said the market is showing healthy signs of improvement, with the regeneration market strong and demand for new homes increasing, supported by government initiatives.
