Stonewater Fund Regulatory News (14MD)

Stock Market Statement

26 July 2021

Publication of Stonewater's Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2021 and Environmental, Social and Governance Report

Stonewater announces today it's consolidated full year audited accounts to 31 March 2021 and unaudited Environmental Social and Governance ("ESG") report (2020/21).

The reports can all be accessed at the following links:

Financial Reports: https://www.stonewater.org/about-us/investor-relations/financial-reports/

ESG report: https://www.stonewater.org/about-us/investor-relations/sustainability/ 

The performance of the business has continued to remain strong and evidences the stable financial position of Stonewater. Highlights include:

• Maintaining our long-term rating of A+ and top G1/V1 governance and viability rating

• Achieving an increase in turnover of £21.4m - £210.4m (2021) vs £189m (2020)

· Operating costs have remained in line with last year, with our operating margin rising to 33% (2021) from 28% (2020)

• Implementing a Group restructure, creating the capacity to build even more homes,

• Maintining a strong liquidity position

In addition today Stonewater was delighted to produce its ESG report for (2020/21) showcasing our sustainability achievments over the past 12 months. Some select highlights include:

• Became early adopter of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing

• Launched Sustainable Finance Framework with a Second Party Opinion from ISS Corporate Solutions

• First housing association to move to a hybrid working model, reducing office carbon footprint by 50%

• Installed 141 ground source and air source heat pumps, and 2,723 cavity wall insulations - saving 26,621 tonnes of CO2 across the life of the measures

Commenting on the full-year results, Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive of Stonewater, said:

"In the most challenging year for colleagues and customers that I think any of us have seen at Stonewater, our annual accounts show how we have continued to deliver on our promises. I am very proud of what we have all achieved.

"Despite facing their own individual challenges during the pandemic, our colleagues have consistently gone the extra mile for our customers, and have truly lived and breathed our values.

"Housing associations such as Stonewater have a vital role to play in supporting the recovery from COVID-19. We are both an employer to many, and the provider of safety, security, and support to tens of thousands of people throughout these challenging times. We recognise that the post-pandemic landscape has shifted significantly and that the 'new normal' is here to stay. We've successfully navigated this by changing the way we provide services and our ways of working to support customers and colleagues in the best way possible.

"For example, we know that hybrid working offers multiple benefits, including better work/life balance for colleagues, as well as reduced environmental impact. As a result, we're leading the sector with new hybrid working model, including an interest-free loan option to improve colleagues' home work spaces which launched in May 2021.

"We will need to continue to be flexible, dynamic and reactive to ensure that we can operate effectively as a landlord and as a business."

John Bruton, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director - Finance at Stonewater, said:

"Despite an incredibly challenging backdrop, Stonewater has taken the appropriate steps to ensure we maintain our strong financial position, allowing us to retain our top credit and regulatory ratings and continue to deliver for customers.

"Key steps we have taken in the 12 months to 31 March 2021 include becoming one of the first housing providers to establish a Sustainable Finance Framework, aligned with United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and completing a company restructure, freeing up resources to allow us to help an additional 3,500 families."

Commenting on development performance, John Bruton said:

"During 2020/21 we worked closely with our partners to ensure we delivered as many affordable homes as possible, despite the construction lockdown and other supply chain challenges. We are pleased to say we completed 671 homes in 2020/21 and that we are on track to hit our target of delivering 1,100 affordable homes in 2021/22 - almost double what we achieved last year.

"We said at our half-year results in December that demand for our shared ownership homes remained strong and that we expected to sell 180 homes in the full year. In fact we exceeded this, helping 207 households onto the property ladder through shared ownership homes."

Commenting on customer satisfaction, Nicholas Harris said:

"Our Voice of the Customer programme maximises the use of customer insight technology, allowing us to understand how we are performing against our Customer Promise and to continue to improve our customers' experience. During 2020/21, 84.5% of our customers told us that they were satisfied with the service they had received from Stonewater. The key drivers of satisfaction for our customers were communication, the quality of repairs and the speed of delivery of our services.

"During 2020/21, our customer service training programme has been rolled out, ensuring all colleagues put our Customer Promise at the heart of how they deliver services. Along with the introduction of a resolution approach to addressing negative customer feedback, this allows us to focus on doing what matters most to our customers."

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