Watkin Jones full-year loss widens amid impairment charges

(Alliance News) - Watkin Jones PLC on Tuesday reported a widened full-year loss after being hit with impairment charges, while it reassured that it entered the current financial year with "encouraging visibility".

The London-based residential for rent developer and operator said pretax loss widened to GBP8.7 million for the year ended September 30 from a loss of GBP300,000 the year before.

This was due to a combination of exceptional costs, including a GBP6.1 million impairment charge resulting from one of its land assets which it said experienced "adverse market conditions specific to that location and circumstances".

The company was also hit with a GBP1.0 million impairment charge against its Europa student leasehold asset due to lower than expected occupancy rates in the 2025/26 academic year.

There was also an additional charge in relation to provisions made for building safety related costs of GBP5.0 million, though this had fallen 29% from the year before.

Further weakening the bottom line, revenue fell 22% to GBP279.8 million from GBP362.4 million, with its two biggest segments Build To Rent and Student Accommodation falling 15% and 42% respectively.

No final dividend was proposed for the year, which was unchanged from the year before.

Looking ahead, Watkin Jones said it has entered the current financial year with "encouraging visibility" provided by around GBP340 million of contractually secured forward sold revenue, with a total pipeline of development opportunities worth approximately GBP2 billion.

"FY25 has seen the benefits of our evolved strategy help mitigate some of the effects of the challenging backdrop over the last three years. This resilient performance reflects a combination of strong operational delivery, a more agile approach to transactional structuring, and the increasing contribution from our diversified activities," said Chief Executive Alex Pease.

"With a strong pipeline, highly skilled and motivated workforce and continued revenue diversification, we enter 2026 with confidence in the strength of our operational platform and our ability to create long-term value for our stakeholders."

Shares in Watkin Jones fell 0.7% to 27.40 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London.

By Roya Shahidi, Alliance News reporter

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