TIDM76FQ
RNS Number : 7235E
LiveWest Treasury PLC
09 November 2020
LiveWest Trading Update for the 6 months to September 2020
LiveWest issues its unaudited group trading update for the 6
months ended 30 September 2020, with comparatives to the unaudited
position for the 6 months ended 30 September 2019, together with an
update on LiveWest's response to Covid-19.
Covid-19 - Supporting customers, colleagues and communities
From 1 September we started offering a full repairs service to
our customers whilst maintaining safety checks in line with
government guidelines. We have made excellent progress with the
backlog of repairs that built up over the four months of
lockdown.
We remain fully operational and some staff, including our
customer services and repairs planning teams, have begun returning
to our offices in Tolvaddon, Exeter and Weston. However, our
offices will not be open to the public or other visitors for the
time being.
We have also expanded our crisis and hardship grants programme
to support customers in financial difficulties.
Covid-19 - Financial impact
We have performed stress tests on our business plan to assess
the impact the many challenges the pandemic will bring, including a
slowdown in sales, an increase in rent arrears and wider economic
impacts. The stress testing framework also considers mitigating
actions should the virus have a material impact on the business,
which include the cessation of uncommitted development, ceasing
non-critical asset management projects, and delaying major repair
expenditure. However, as the performance update below shows,
LiveWest remains in a strong financial position to respond to the
challenges of the virus.
Liquidity at 30 September 2020
LiveWest had liquidity of GBP381m, consisting of available
undrawn facilities of GBP371m, and available cash of GBP10m.
Financial and Operating Performance
Surplus for the 6 months to September 2020 is GBP40m (2019:
GBP26m). Operating costs were GBP6m lower in the period largely as
a result of a reduced maintenance service in the first five months
due to Covid-19. Surplus on Disposal of Properties includes GBP14m
relating to homes outside our core operating area. Housing
Properties (net of depreciation) have increased to GBP2,092m from
GBP2,083m at March 2020. As a result of the net cash inflow, net
debt has fallen to GBP828m from GBP849m.
Statement of Comprehensive Income
6 months 6 months 12 months
Sep-20 Sep-19 Mar-20
GBPm GBPm GBPm
Turnover 115 118 248
Operating Costs (78) (84) (179)
Surplus on Disposal of Properties 17 5 20
Operating Surplus 54 39 89
--------- ---------
Net Interest Payable (14) (13) (29)
Movement in Fair Value of Financial
Instruments - - (1)
Surplus for the period 40 26 59
--------- ---------
Financial Indicators
Sep-20 Sep-19 Mar-20
Operating Margin on Social Housing
Lettings 37% 33% 32%
Gross Profit Margin on Shared
Ownership Sales 23% 23% 25%
Gross Profit Margin on Open Market
Sales 22% 18% 18%
Sales as Percentage of Turnover 17% 22% 24%
------------------------------------- --------- --------- ----------
Sales of open market (our share only, if part of a joint
venture) and shared ownership homes totalled 145 units for the 6
months ended 30 September 2020 (2019: 251).
Sales margins remain strong. Sales and reservations to date have
been resilient to the pandemic, resulting in reduced stock levels.
As at 30 September 2020, we had 66 shared ownership stock units
(March 2020: 130) and 8 open market stock units (our share only, if
part of a joint venture) (March 2020: 3).
Customer satisfaction was 90.0% (31 March 2020: 84.9%). Void
losses for our general needs and sheltered stock were 0.53% (March
2020: 0.64%). Rent arrears were 2.54% (March 2020: 1.93%).
Development
Handovers were relatively low at 190 affordable units in the 6
months ended 30 September 2020 (2019: 450) due to site closures in
the first quarter of the year as a result of Covid-19. We have a
contracted pipeline of 2,529 affordable homes (March 2020:
2,538).
Board and Executive Team Changes - 6 months to September
2020
LiveWest Homes Ltd: Phil Stevens was appointed to the Board in
September 2020.
Phil trained as a quantity surveyor and has worked in
construction and house building for over 40 years. He also has over
25 years of experience at director level. Previous positions
include 10 years as Executive Director for Development and
Commercial at Sovereign and director roles at Willmott Dixon and
Maxim Homes and board member for The Housing Forum.
LiveWest Treasury plc: there were no changes to the membership
of the board.
LiveWest Rating
LiveWest Homes Ltd is rated A2 (stable) by Moody's (June 2019),
and G1/V1 by the Regulator of Social Housing (July 2019).
END
For more information, please contact:
Andrew Hart, Director of Corporate Finance 01392 814444
https://www.livewest.co.uk/about-us/investor-relations/
Disclaimer
The information contained herein (the "Trading Update") has been
prepared by LiveWest Homes Limited (the "Parent") and its
subsidiaries (the "Group"), including LiveWest Treasury plc and
LiveWest Capital plc (each an "Issuer") and is for information
purposes only.
The Trading Update should not be construed as an offer or
solicitation to buy or sell any securities issued by the Parent,
the Issuer or any other member of the Group, or any interest in any
such securities, and nothing herein should be construed as a
recommendation or advice to invest in any such securities.
Statements in the Trading Update, including those regarding
possible or assumed future or other performance of the Group as a
whole or any member of it, industry growth or other trend
projections may constitute forward-looking statements and as such
involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results,
performance or developments to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Accordingly, no assurance is given that such forward-looking
statements will prove to have been correct. They speak only as at
the date of the Trading Update and neither the Parent nor any other
member of the Group undertakes any obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future developments, occurrence of unanticipated
events or otherwise. The information contained in the Trading
Update is unaudited.
None of the Parent, any member of the Group or anyone else is
under any obligation to update or keep current the information
contained in the Trading Update. The information in the Trading
Update is subject to verification, does not purport to be
comprehensive, is provided as at the date of the Trading Update and
is subject to change without notice.
No reliance should be placed on the information or any
projections, targets, estimates or forecasts and nothing in the
Trading Update is or should be relied on as a promise or
representation as to the future. No statement in the Trading Update
is intended to be a profit estimate or forecast. No representation
or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the
Parent, any other member of the Group or any of their respective
directors, officers, employees, advisers, agents or any other
persons as to the accuracy or validity of the information or
opinions contained in the Trading Update (and whether any
information has been omitted from the Trading Update). The Trading
Update does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment
advice.
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END
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