HENRY BOOT AGREES SALE OF 759 PLOTS TO VISTRY

Boot(Henry) PLC

18 January 2024

 

 

18 January 2024

HENRY BOOT PLC

('Henry Boot' or 'the Group')

HENRY BOOT AGREES SALE OF 759 PLOTS IN SWINDON TO VISTRY

- Notice of trading update -

Henry Boot PLC announces that its land promotion and planning business, Hallam Land Management ('HLM'), has unconditionally exchanged contracts for the sale of 759 residential plots in Swindon to Vistry Group PLC ('Vistry'), the national housebuilder.

Located in South Marston, Swindon, HLM secured an option to purchase the site over 20 years ago, and since then it has been promoting the land through the planning process, as part of a wider strategic land parcel working alongside Taylor Wimpey and Hannick Homes. In August 2021 outline planning consent was secured for a total of 2,380 residential plots across a 400-acre site, of which 1,063 relate to HLM's site.

In December 2023, a contract was exchanged to acquire the land, which has recently completed, simultaneously exchanging to sell 759 plots to Vistry which will complete in two phases with the first in 2024 and the second in 2026.

In addition to enabling the delivery of new homes including over 500 affordable homes, the wider site will bring a number of additional community benefits to the local area as part of the planning consent.  These include up to 26,900 sq ft of retail, food, service and business space, a new primary school and an extension to an existing school, as well as community and sport buildings, significant woodland planting, green infrastructure and children's play spaces.

The transaction is expected to result in an ungeared internal rate of return for Henry Boot of 10% p.a. HLM will retain 304 plots for future sale.

Notice of trading update

The Group will provide a Trading Update in respect of the year ended 31 December 2023 on 23 January 2024.

Tim Roberts, CEO of Henry Boot PLC, commented: "While the housing industry has experienced slower sales rates over the past year, against what has been a challenging market backdrop, this sale further demonstrates the demand we continue to see for large, consented land parcels from major housebuilders who have a strategic long term requirement to deliver homes.  At the same time there is an appetite for smaller premium sites in strong market locations. This disposal also underlines our team's experience of taking large, complex sites through the planning system and ultimately selling them to housebuilders to both enable the delivery of much needed homes and community facilities across the U.K. and create shareholder value."

-ENDS-

Enquiries:

FTI Consulting

Richard Sunderland/Giles Barrie

Tel: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Henry Boot PLC

Tim Roberts, Chief Executive Officer

Darren Littlewood, Chief Financial Officer

Daniel Boot, Senior Corporate Communications Manager

Tel: [phone]

www.henryboot.co.uk

Deutsche Numis

Joint Corporate Broker

Ben Stoop

Tel: [phone]

Peel Hunt LLP

Joint Corporate Broker

Ed Allsopp / Charles Batten

Tel: [phone]

About Henry Boot PLC

Henry Boot PLC (BOOT.L) was established over 135 years ago and is one of the UK's leading and long-standing property investment and development, land promotion and construction companies. Based in Sheffield, the Group is comprised of the following three segments:

Land Promotion:
Hallam Land Management Limited

Property Investment and Development:
Henry Boot Developments Limited (HBD), Stonebridge Homes Limited

Construction:
Henry Boot Construction Limited, Banner Plant Limited, Road Link (A69) Limited

The Group possesses a high-quality strategic land portfolio, a proven reputation in the property development market for creating places with purpose, backed by a substantial investment property portfolio and an expanding, jointly owned, housebuilding business. It has a construction specialism in both the public and private sectors, a plant hire business, and generates strong cash flows from its PFI contract, Road Link (A69) Limited.

www.henryboot.co.uk

 

END