Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Watkin Jones plc LON:WJG, said: “It has been a busy year for the Group and excellent progress has been made. Not only have we delivered 3,819 beds across ten sites in the UK, but we have also successfully made the transition to being a public company. Our performance in the year reinforces the attractiveness of our end-to-end business model to investors, whilst our development pipeline continues to provide excellent visibility of earnings and cashflow.”
Watkin Jones plc (AIM:WJG), a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector, has provided DirectorsTalk with a trading update for the year ended 30 September 2016.
The Board expects to report a successful financial year with trading in line with its expectations.
As announced on 27 September 2016, Watkin Jones successfully completed, ahead of the 2016/17 academic year, ten developments across the UK with a total of 3,819 student beds. Watkin Jones has a record of on-time delivery of schemes and all developments expected to be completed ahead of the 2017/2018 academic year, remain on track. The Group continues to add sites to its strong development pipeline and, at 30 September 2016, it had a total of 21 developments with 6,814 beds targeted for delivery during 2017 and 2018.
The Group’s pipeline beyond 2018 is also looking robust with over 2,000 beds across a number of sites already secured. This includes the proposed redevelopment of the Duncan House site in Stratford, London, to provide 511 beds of student accommodation, 44 residential apartments and approximately 28,000 square feet of academic and office space. The scheme has a gross development value in excess of £100 million and is due for delivery in 2019.
Fresh Student Living, the Group’s asset management subsidiary, continues to progress well, and now has 12,337 beds under management for the 2016/17 academic year (8,310 under management during the 2015/16 academic year).
The pipeline going forward provides the Group with strong visibility of earnings and cash flows and underpins our strategy in the near term. As a result, and with interest from investors in Purpose Built Student Accommodation remaining consistently strong, the Board remains confident in the outlook for the Group.
The Group will be announcing its Final Results on Wednesday, 18 January 2017. An analyst briefing will be held at 09.30hrs at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN.
