Watkin Jones Regulatory News (WJG)

Watkin Jones plc

('Watkin Jones' or the 'Group')

Pre-Close Trading Statement

Watkin Jones plc (AIM:WJG), a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector, announces its pre-close trading statement for the half year ended 31 March 2017.

The Board is pleased to report a successful first six months of the financial year with trading in line with its expectations.

In the year to date, five student accommodation developments in Bournemouth, Ipswich, Belfast, Cardiff and London, representing 2,347 beds in total, were sold with a gross development value of £192 million. All the developments planned to be completed by September 2017 and five of those planned to be completed by September 2018 have been forward sold. Watkin Jones has a further six developments totalling over 1,705 beds under offer and in legal negotiations which, when concluded, would see all the developments planned to be completed by September 2018 forward sold. In total, 16 developments, representing 5,679 beds, for delivery before September 2019 have now been sold.

The Group has 11,098 targeted beds in its secured pipeline, with 9,390 of these having planning consent. Planning applications have been submitted in respect of the remainder.

Fresh Student Living now have 12,117 beds under management across 43 schemes and are contracted to increase this to 16,526 beds under management across 55 schemes from the start of the 2017/18 academic year.

The Group is making good progress with its drive into the Private Rented Sector ('PRS') having completed its first PRS scheme in Leeds of 322 units and has secured a 132 unit development site in Sutton. The Group is also working on a number of planning applications and other site acquisition opportunities.

The Group's progress in delivering the current development pipeline is encouraging and the Board remains confident in the outlook for the full year.

Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Watkin Jones plc, said: "I am pleased with the Group's performance over the past six months, which continues to reinforce the attractiveness of our end-to-end business model to institutional investors. The market for purpose built student accommodation in the UK continues to grow and demand for our product remains strong.

"Our entry into PRS has been successful with the completion of our first scheme in Leeds and going forward we plan to grow our PRS business sustainably. Our development pipeline provides excellent visibility of earnings and cashflow and we are optimistic for the continued growth of Watkin Jones."

The Group will be announcing its Interim Results on Thursday, 1 June 2017. An analyst briefing will be held at 09.30hrs at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN.

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Notes to Editors

Watkin Jones is a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector. The Group has strong relationships with institutional investors, and a good reputation for successful, on-time-delivery of high quality developments. Since 1999, Watkin Jones has delivered over 31,800 student beds across 98 sites, making it a key player and leader in the UK purpose built student accommodation market. In addition, Watkin Jones has 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 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. Key components of the business model are:

· Site identification - extensive experience of site identification and acquisition facilitates high quality sites being acquired;

· Planning consents - in depth knowledge and experience of the planning consent process specific to this type of asset facilitates high success rates on planning applications;

· In-house construction and delivery - in-house construction expertise, management and delivery limits reliance on third parties and, together with favourable contractual relationships with key suppliers, enhances control of cost;

· Funding structure - forward sale model reduces risk for Watkin Jones and provides security and visibility of the asset pipeline for investors. The Group has strong relationships with blue chip investors, including a number that are repeat investors in Watkin Jones developments; and

· Asset management - dedicated property management division provides a continued service solution to investors post development completion and completes the 'end to end' business model.