BPHA sees half-year rise in operating surplus and drop in homes delivered

According to the report, this was due to a 7.7% rent increase at the start of the year and “continued development of new affordable homes”.

The volume of responsive repair jobs BPHA undertook increased by 20%. However, it said costs were “managed effectively so only increased” by 3.6% (£7.7m).

“As a result, our core operating business achieved a 43% margin, which exceeds the 41% achieved to September 2023, and our 40% target,” the report said.

It said its operating business “continued to perform strongly”, with an increase in surplus from £26.2m to £29.1m in the first six months of the year.

According to the report, “strong operational cashflow along with asset sales covered around 80% of our development spend”, with the remaining costs met by £5.3m of borrowing from its liquidity facilities.

“The other additional borrowings during the first half of the year, which were to facilitate the restructuring of our syndicated bank facility, are being held as cash and will be used to fund development over the remainder of the year,” it said.

BPHA’s net cashflow from operating activities increased to £38.9m, from £33.2m.

Its capital investment in existing homes reduced slightly to £9.2m, “due to the timing of work on our high-rise refurbishment programme”, according to the report.

On the dip in shared ownership sales, BPHA said it had a “strong pipeline with development spend increasing from £24.5m to £26.2m and anticipate the pace of new homes delivered to increase for the full year”.

“A new investment partnership with Hill [Group] will enable us to work closely with Bedford Borough Council to develop more land for affordable use across Bedfordshire,” it said.

S&P reaffirmed the landlord’s A+ (stable) credit rating in October.

BPHA said this financial stability “allows us to continue to provide and invest in good homes and services”.

According to the report: “In July 2024 we completed our syndicate refinancing, replacing our main syndicate with a series of bilateral facilities.

“This increased our level of undrawn facilities to £228m and our immediately available cash to £34m, strengthening our liquidity headroom to £262m on 30 September 2024.”

It said its “continued strong liquidity means that all future committed developments can be funded from existing facilities, without the need to raise additional funding”.

Richard Hill, chief executive of BPHA, said: “Our performance over the last six months has been strong and we have taken some important steps in delivering our new corporate strategy.

“Guided by our vision of ‘quality homes, connected communities’ our progress has included:

• Further growth of our in-house maintenance team and maintaining high post-repair satisfaction of 93%
• Working with our partners to develop a regeneration plan for the Greyfriars area of Bedford
• We continued to innovate in our approach to sustainability, increasing the proportion of our homes achieving [an Energy Performance Certificate of Band] C or above to 90%
• We took a significant step forward in customers influencing our decisions and priorities by establishing a diverse and effective service improvement panel.”

Julian Pearce, chief financial officer of BPHA, said: “The half-year results show that we remain financially robust, with strong liquidity.

“The statements outline how we have continued to deliver a strong and improved financial performance. We will continue to manage our finances carefully to deliver higher-quality services and value to customers.”