Latest figure comes on top of £90m deficit housing association racked up previously
The cost of building safety work and contractor insolvencies helped send housing association Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) tumbling to a £129m deficit last year.
The G15 landlord, in an audited trading update for the year ending 31 March, revealed it will post a large deficit for the second successive year, following the previous figure of £90.2m.
NHG said the latest deficit was due to several factors including a revaluation of its 3,000-home private rental portfolio which has led to a £119m drop in valuation.
It also said it has been “impacted by macro-economic uncertainty” and posted £45m in exceptional costs, including for additional building safety work at its Oak Square development in Stockwell, south London, as well as costs relating to its 800-home Spray Street Quarter development in Woolwich.
There were also cost over-runs at its Cambridge House development in Croydon, due to a contractor administration.
But the group did increase its operating surplus excluding one-off charges, from £101m to £115m, while its turnover rose by 1% to £717m.
The group sold 191 homes which it said was in line with its new build programme, adding it is on track to deliver a further 986 completions in the year ahead. NHG said it has strong liquidity and headroom of more than £588m in cash and undrawn facilities
The large deficit for NHG comes off the back of last year’s £90.2m deficit. The landlord filed its accounts late after identifying £101.5m in one-off costs, the majority of which related to building safety liabilities and impairments.
NHG is continuing to work on an improvement plan after being downgraded to a non-compliant ‘G3’ governance grade by the Regulator of Social Housing in November.
A regulatory inspection found issues of concern with its business planning and risk and control frameworks that led to ‘poor outcomes’ for tenants.
In April it agreed an 11-point action plan to improve and in today’s update, NHG said “good progress is being made” with the plans, which are being overseen by new board member, Léann Hearne, the outgoing chief executive of Merseyside landlord Livv Housing Group.
Patrick Franco, chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis, said: “We have made good operational and strategic progress in the year, despite the challenging economic and market conditions. The regulatory review outcome was disappointing, but we have responded positively and accelerated the transformation which was already underway.”
NHG has in the past 12 months appointed people to a number of new roles including chief customer officer, chief homes officer, chief people officer, chief governance & risk officer and chief organisational effectiveness officer.
Franco added: “Notting Hill Genesis is an organisation undergoing significant change and investment. It will take time to deliver the results our residents expect but I am confident in our plan and our progress.”
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