Watkin Jones Regulatory News (WJG)

Watkin Jones plc

('Watkin Jones' or the 'Group')

Development Partnership for 295 homes in St Helens

Watkin Jones, the UK's leading developer and manager of residential properties for rent, is pleased to announce it has agreed to develop and deliver 295 new homes in a development partnership with Torus, the largest affordable housing provider in the North West of England, partly funded by Homes England.

The scheme is part of the Moss Nook development by Harworth Group, a large complex former industrial site in St Helens. It will deliver much-needed affordable tenures and sees the brownfield site regenerated as part of the wider masterplan, with initial phases already under construction by third parties.

Over the course of the development, the transaction is expected to generate revenue of approximately £48m for Watkin Jones, is in line with the Group's stated margin targets, and has the potential to benefit from further value generated by the scheme in the future. The build programme is anticipated to take approximately 40 months to complete.

Alex Pease, Chief Executive Officer of Watkin Jones, commented: 

"Having supported Harworth Group in securing reserved matters planning permission in April 2024, we are delighted to continue our involvement with them and to have secured our first development partnership with Torus to deliver 295 homes, helping to address the growing demand for high-quality housing in the North West.

"By leveraging our leading expertise in the development and construction of residential real estate, this collaboration highlights our ability to transact in what continues to be a challenging market environment, whilst implementing our strategy of diversifying our sources of income.

"We look forward to the successful delivery of this project and exploring future opportunities together."

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This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK Domestic Law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR")

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Notes to Editors

Watkin Jones is the UK's leading developer and manager of residential for rent, with a focus on the build to rent, student accommodation and affordable housing sectors. The Group has strong relationships with institutional investors, and a reputation for successful, on-time-delivery of high-quality developments. Since 1999, Watkin Jones has delivered over 49,000 student beds across 147 schemes, making it a key player and leader in the UK purpose-built student accommodation market, and is increasingly expanding its operations into the build to rent sector. In addition, Fresh, the Group's specialist accommodation management business, manages over 16,800 student beds and build to rent apartments on behalf of its institutional clients. Watkin Jones has also been responsible for over 50 residential developments, ranging from starter homes to executive housing and apartments.

The Group's competitive advantage lies in its experienced management team and capital-light business model, which enables it to offer an end-to-end solution for investors, delivered entirely in-house with minimal reliance on third parties, across the entire life cycle of an asset.

Watkin Jones was admitted to trading on AIM in March 2016 with the ticker WJG.L. For additional information please visit www.watkinjonesplc.com