London housing association reveals £21m annual deficit

Its bottom line was also hit by £63.7m in interest charges and a £14.5m downward movement in the valuation of investment properties. 

A2Dominion has endured a tumultuous time in the past year, which has seen an executive shake-up, a downgrade to G3 and chief executives from two other housing associations joining its board.

The group, which operates across London and the South East, also announced redundancies this summer as it halved the size of its development team.

Ian Wardle, chief executive of A2Dominion, said it had taken some “tough calls to reset and pivot the organisation”. 

He added: “These difficult decisions are being taken for the right reasons to support service improvement, adjust our development focus and write off some historic costs that we don’t believe will deliver what we need for customers and colleagues.”

In its last financial year, the group spent £96.8m on repairs and maintenance and its major works programme, up by 12% year-on-year. Over the next five years, it plans to invest £612m in its existing stock.

A total of 3,033 new cases of damp and mould that required a “specialist inspection” were reported, the landlord said. The number of full-time staff members working for the group’s repairs subsidiary rose by 78 to 334.

The group’s operating costs rose by 9% to £293.9m. Inflation, including higher costs for utilities and insurance, plus higher repair costs and the volume of jobs, were all cited as factors. 

On building safety, A2Dominion revealed that it has spent £38m so far on the 65 blocks that it identified needed fire safety work post-Grenfell.

It plans to complete fire safety work on seven buildings in the current financial year with all building safety jobs expected to be finished by 2026, the group said. 

The landlord saw its turnover rise by 3% to £399.6m due to more income from social housing rent. However the rise was tempered by a £12.6m fall in income from property sales. 

On an operating basis, A2Dominion reported a surplus of £48.7m, up from £43.4m the year before. 

Mr Wardle added: “Our underlying financial strength and potential is strong, and we will return to profitability as part of the improvements we are making.”

The group pointed to its £3.5bn in fixed assets and investments.

Its net debt edged down slightly to £1.5bn, while it retained £45.5m in cash, lower than the previous year’s figure of £56m.

Earlier this month the landlord appointed a new director to help tackle its governance issues.