Accent more than doubles capital spend on existing stock

“This includes £1.4m on new insulation and other sustainability works to significantly improve the thermal insulation of our homes and reduce running costs for our customers,” Sarah Ireland, interim chief executive of Accent, and Tom Miskell, the group’s chair, said in a joint statement.

The social landlord said it had experienced a “bumper year” for development, with 431 completions and just over 1,200 in the pipeline. It is slated to deliver 438 homes next year.

Its approach to development also “significantly” changed during the course of its latest development and growth strategy, which ran from 2019 to 2024.

Accent said it had moved from “buying almost all properties through Section 106 or ‘off the shelf’, to a predominantly land-led programme”.

“Of the 880 homes on site at 31 March 2024, 90% were land-led,” it said. It plans to deliver around 3,150 new homes before 2031.

Accent’s turnover rose from £115m to £127m, while its surplus before tax also grew, increasing 8.8% to £23.4m in 2023-24.

Operating surplus for its core affordable housing business also saw an uptick, rising by £3.3m to £29.4m, which it said was down to increased rental and service charge income of £11m, offset by higher repairs and maintenance costs and increased depreciation.

Accent’s operating margin dipped very slightly to 25.1%, from 25.7% the previous year, but was well above its target of 22.3%. Its operating margin for social lettings improved year on year by 0.4 percentage points to 25.6%.

Its EBITDA MRI (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, major repairs included) cover was ahead of its 130.9% target, at 150.6% – though this marked a steep drop from its 2022-23 result of 214.1%. “The actual results reflect our commitment to invest in our existing and new stock,” Accent said.

It said it had come under pressure from higher costs for utilities and building materials, but had benefited from interest rate increases.

The landlord also released its 2024-27 corporate strategy, which sets out its target to increase the number of new homes to 600 starts on site annually by 2027.

This week, Accent was revealed as one of 13 landlords the Housing Ombudsman named in its Learning from severe maladministration report into how landlords have responded to complaints about windows.

Accent also recently announced it had appointed Nick Apetroaie, the head of Habinteg Housing Association, as chief executive, effective 1 November.

Mr Apetroaie will take over from Ms Ireland, who took on the role on an interim basis in April after Paul Dolan left to head up Riverside.