INL.L Regulatory News (INL)

19 March 2020

Inland Homes plc

("Inland Homes", "Group" or "Company")

Update on Current Trading and

Progress on Major Planning Application

Whilst a comprehensive trading update will be provided to the market shortly following the half year ending 31 March 2020, Inland Homes ("Inland Homes", "the Group" or "the Company") provides the following update and confirms that current trading remains in line with the Board's expectations.

The Group has in place a wide range of business continuity plans to mitigate potential disruption to the business from the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure the maintenance of operational continuity whilst protecting the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and customers.

Inland Homes has a well-structured and flexible business model comprising a number of independent income streams, a high-quality asset base and a highly experienced management team. The Group has borrowing facilities with well staggered maturity dates and has significant headroom for its house building activities. 

Housebuilding

The Group's current forward sales position of homes reserved and exchanged stands at circa £47.2m. This includes the hotel under construction in Bournemouth as part of The Wessex development, which is forward sold to Aviva for £13.3m.

Current reservation rates remain resilient with no major change in buying interest or visitor numbers in recent weeks, with the majority of sales being to first-time buyers. Selling prices are in line with expectations with the average selling price remaining at approximately £250,000. The Group is on target to achieve 65 legal completions worth approximately £17.5m during the course of this month in line with the Board's expectation.

Partnership housing

Partnership housing continues to be the Group's fastest growing activity, in line with strategy, with a forward order book of £86m. Partnership transactions accelerate revenue and provide the Group with monthly cash flow that provides a balance to open market housebuilding.

Construction continues as usual across all schemes under construction, with all projects ahead of programme for delivery. These schemes are currently generating cash inflows in the order of £7m per month.

The Group's blue-chip client base includes many of the UK's leading housing associations, including Clarion Housing Group and A2 Dominion. There remains considerable demand for much-needed new affordable homes with Inland proving an attractive delivery partner to the industry. Negotiations are ongoing regarding further partnership opportunities.

Land operations

The Group has a number of significant profitable land sales which are expected to conclude in the near future. 

Rental income

The Group generates income in excess of £3m per annum of income through its brownfield activities, including from its temporary modular housing business 'hugg homes' which are let to local housing authorities to provide short-term housing to meet immediate housing need.

Hillingdon Gardens

The Group is pleased note that the Mayor of London is 'calling in' its major planning application for more than 500 homes at Hillingdon Gardens.

The Mayor will now act as the local planning authority to consider the detailed planning application. The move follows Hillingdon Council's announcement that it was minded to reject the planning application.

In its notification, a representative from the Greater London Authority (GLA) commented that the "proposed development has potential to make an important contribution to house and affordable housing supply" and "warrants further consideration by the Mayor as the local planning authority".

The detailed plans submitted by the brownfield regeneration specialist will help transform the six-acre commercial site formerly known as the Master Brewer Hotel into a residential-led, mixed-use neighbourhood of 514 homes, including 179 affordable homes and 1,250sqm of commercial space. The proposed new homes will include a range of one, two and three-bedrooms apartments to suit a wide range of housing needs, with the number of affordable homes in line with policy requirements.

One of the key features of this site are the good transport connections. Hillingdon tube station adjoins the site, with direct services into central London in approximately 35 minutes and access to the M40 motorway is less than two miles away.

Stephen Wicks, CEO, commented:

"The Group has in place a wide range of business continuity plans to mitigate potential disruption to the business from the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure the maintenance of operational continuity whilst protecting the health and wellbeing of our colleagues and customers.

"The announcement that the Mayor of London is 'calling in' the Hillingdon Gardens planning application is very welcome, demonstrating our unrivalled ability to identify brownfield sites where we can add value. Not only will Hillingdon Gardens deliver more than 500 much needed homes to the area, it will also provide additional employment opportunities and public realm benefit.

"The Group can confirm that current trading remains in line with the Board's expectations with resilient demand across its trading activities and the business is well positioned to build on the success we reported in January over the coming months."

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

Incorporated in the UK in 2005, Inland Homes plc is an AIM listed specialist housebuilder and brownfield developer, dedicated to achieving excellence in sustainability and design.

Inland Homes acquires brownfield land in the South and South-East of England principally for residentially led development schemes. The business then enhances the land value by obtaining planning permission, before building open market and affordable homes or selling surplus consented land to other developers to generate cash.

The Company is committed to extensive public and community consultation in order to ensure that, where possible, local community needs and objectives are met.

Inland's aim is to create sustainable communities and homes which set a benchmark for all future developments in the South and South East of England. The Company is always looking for brownfield sites without planning permission for future development.

For further information, please visit the Inland Homes website at www.inlandhomes.co.uk.

Hugg Homes - www.hugghomes.co.uk

Rosewood Housing - www.rosewoodhousing.co.uk