Wheatley sees surplus rise despite economic volatility

Steven Henderson, chief executive of Wheatley Group, said: “Our operational efficiencies helped us manage the cost increases we faced over the year, while allowing us to support our customers and keep rents affordable at the same time.”

In its financial results, the group added: “We will continue to target further operational efficiencies to help maintain financial agility within the business and agreed targets are embedded within our financial projections and annual budgets.”

Overall Wheatley said it produced a “strong and resilient financial performance” in a year in which it navigated a “volatile economic climate and inflationary levels which have not been seen in the UK for 40 years”.

During the financial year, the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act was also introduced to freeze private and social rents from September 2022 until the end of March 2023.

In 2022-23, Wheatley Group completed 644 new homes: 519 for social rent and 125 for mid-market rent. This was a rise from 438 new homes delivered in 2021-22, consisting of 271 for social rent and 167 for mid-market rent.

In the last financial year, the group started work on another 769 new homes, 436 social rent and 333 mid-market rent, at 11 sites.

Mr Henderson said this takes Wheatley Group’s total units on site to 1,521, meaning it is on track to meet its target of building 4,000 new homes over the five-year period to 2026.

He said: “Our commitment to increasing the supply of new homes remained as strong as ever this year, as did our support for the Scottish government’s ‘Housing to 2040’ vision.”

Wheatley spent £97.5m on repairs and maintenance and delivered 280,560 reactive repairs in 2022-23.

The group reduced carbon emissions by 4,138 tonnes and improved the energy performance band of more than 1,300 homes, with more than 90 per cent of its stock now at Energy Performance Certificate Band C or better, it said.

Elsewhere, Wheatley Group reported debt of £1.53bn, an increase from £1.49bn, while gearing remained the same at 53 per cent.

As at 31 March, the housing association had £270.3m in undrawn facilities and £39.7m in cash balances.

The group had £1.82bn in bond and bank facilities, a rise from £1.81bn in the previous year.

In May, Wheatley retained its A+ credit rating, with a ‘stable’ outlook, from Standard & Poor’s.