Harworth Group, the property developer and owner, reported a NAV total return for the year to December 2021 of 24.6% – a record for the company.
EPRA net disposal value (NDV) was up a whopping 23.5% in the year to 197.6p per share, or £637.5m, due mainly to valuation gains at its industrial and logistics sites and planning and development progress.
The group has a 28.2m sq ft industrial & logistics pipeline that it progressed during the year either through planning, development or sales. Construction is underway on 332,000 sq ft of Grade A space at Bardon Hill, which is due to complete this summer, while planning has been secured for 1.1m sq ft of space at Wingates site in Bolton, with plans submitted for a further 2.8m sq ft across sites at Skelton Grange, Leeds and Gascoigne Wood, North Yorkshire.
The group also conditionally exchanged contracts on sales of a strategic land site in Ansty, Warwickshire for £53.5m, and Kellingley site in Selby, North Yorkshire for £54.0m, at significant premiums to book value.
On the company’s residential portfolio, it sold 1,411 plots to nine different housebuilders and secured planning permission for a 1,000-home scheme in Shropshire.
The group grew its strategic land portfolio with the acquisitions of £14.3m worth of sites, including a number of smaller sites as part of land assembly. It bought two strategic land sites – in Rothwell, Northamptonshire, capable of delivering 1.5m sq ft of industrial & logistics, and Staveley, Derbyshire, capable of delivering 600 new homes.
In line with its performance, the group increased its dividend by 10% to 1.2p.
On the financial side, the company has available liquidity of £128.0m and net debt of just £25.7m, equating to a very low loan to value (LTV) of 3.4%. Harworth agreed a new five-year debt package post year-end, increasing its revolving credit facility (RCF) to £200m, with a £40m uncommitted accordion. By the year end the group has a target LTV of below 20%.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive, said: “Harworth maintained its strong momentum throughout 2021, as we stepped into our ambitious strategy to reach £1bn of EPRA NDV over five to seven years. Our performance, combined with tailwinds in our end markets, has translated into a significant increase in EPRA NDV and our highest annual Total Return to date.
“In addition to the significant progress made in planning, direct development, lettings and land sales across our portfolio during the year, we agreed terms for the sales of our Ansty strategic land site and Kellingley development site, conditional on planning consent, at significant premiums to book value. The proceeds from these sales once completed, alongside the larger senior debt facility we have secured, will provide us with additional firepower to deploy across our development sites and acquisition pipeline.
“Our core sectors continue to perform well, but are not immune to wider macroeconomic pressures. Our focus now is on the execution of the strategy, ensuring that, as we work through our plans, the team has the skills and resources to deliver consistently and successfully, sustainably growing the business and delivering returns through the cycle. This will ensure that we continue to deliver places where people want to live and work.”
HWG : Harworth posts record total return