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Large London landlord suspends listing of bonds after accounts delay
Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has temporarily suspended trading for five of its bonds on the markets.
The 67,000-home landlord has taken the step after it announced late last week that it was delaying the publication of its audited annual accounts to review one-off items.
NHG said it will “promptly apply” for the bonds to be re-listed once its accounts have been released, which are expected later this month.
In unaudited accounts, published in June, the G15 landlord reported an annual deficit of £82m. This was due to £110m of write-downs related to building safety liabilities and asset impairments.
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In last week’s filing, NHG said: “We have ensured the exceptional items mentioned in our market statement on 28 June 2024 have been thoroughly reviewed and agreed, and this robust due diligence has taken time.
“Therefore, there will be a short delay to completion, subject to concluding on final validation checks and approvals, that will extend past our initial deadline of 27 September 2024.”
NHG also previously delayed reporting its 2021-22 accounts. However this was blamed on staffing problems at its auditors BDO.
The landlord said it had no reason to believe that its latest financial statements, covering the year to the end of March 2024, will be “subject to any audit qualification”.
NHG said it had received consent from its bond trustee, M&G Trustee Company Ltd, to postpone publishing its results to “no later” than 25 October.
Inside Housing understands that under Financial Conduct Authority rules, an organisation has to suspend trading in its bonds if its annual report is delayed.
The five bonds that have been suspended total £1.55bn in borrowing.
Housing associations are also required to report their annual results to the Regulator of Social Housing within six months of year end. It is understood that NHG has been in contact with the RSH.
NHG has a relatively new chief financial officer. Mark Smith joined the landlord in April from NHS Property Services, which provides landlord and property services for 2,700 NHS buildings across England.
It is also looking to recruit its first chief governance and risk officer to help it maintain compliance with the regulator’s standards.
NHG currently has a G1/V2 rating, but has yet to be awarded a grade for consumer standards under the regulator’s new regime.
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