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Keepmoat gets pre-emptive equity injection

5 May 21 The private equity owners of Keepmoat Homes have committed to pumping more money into the business after it made a loss last year.

A Keepmoat street in the West Midlands
A Keepmoat street in the West Midlands

Keepmoat Homes made a pre-tax loss of £19.5m for the year ended 31st October 2020, compared to a £37.7m profit the previous year. Operating profit fell from £58.8m to £5.2m on turnover down 38% to £406.0m (2029: £649.8m).

With the first national lockdown stopping work on site for many weeks, Keepmoat sold only 2,460 homes during the year (2019: 4,035).

However, the business is bouncing back and has secured  new financing facilities from its banks and a pre-emptive equity injection from shareholders TDR Capital and Sun Capital Partners.

Chief executive Tim Beale said: “Despite the year’s challenges, our mixed-tenure partnership model has continued to set us apart, proving incredibly resilient and ensured we are bouncing back strongly and started the spring selling season well.

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“We started the year with a strong first quarter, demonstrating good momentum following a record performance in the financial year ended 31st October 2019. With the arrival of the pandemic and safety our top priority, we closed all our sites in April 2020 and introduced rigorous Covid-safe working protocols and inspection regimes before undertaking a phased re-opening in May. We accelerated the digital transformation of our business, investing in our digital infrastructure to improve the customer sales journey, with online sales and appointment booking tools, as well as systems to strengthen build management.”

He continued: “As one of the UK’s largest and oldest partnership builders, we are uniquely placed to serve the needs of the UK today with over 70% of our open market sales in the last financial year made to first-time buyers. We operate in the sweet spot of the UK housing market, with continuing strong demand for our high quality, affordable homes from first-time buyers and for our mixed tenure offering. Housing is a major government priority, and many customers are re-appraising where they want to live with demand for flexible space for living, working, exercising, and relaxing.

“We continue to execute our growth strategy, benefitting from a record forward sold position and the excellent forward visibility provided by our land pipeline of over 24,000 plots, equivalent to six years’ supply, as well as the flexibility provided by our mixed tenure model.

“We ended the reporting period with regained momentum, which has continued over the last six months, and I am confident that in 2021, Keepmoat will continue to go from strength to strength.”

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