Pre-Close Trading Statement

RNS Number : 4170U

Watkin Jones plc

07 April 2016

 

For immediate release

7 April 2016

Watkin Jones plc

('Watkin Jones' or the 'Group')

Pre-Close Trading Statement

Watkin Jones plc (AIM:WJG), a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector, announces its pre-close trading statement for the half year ended 31 March 2016.

The Board is pleased to report a successful first six months of the financial year with trading in line with its expectations. The Group had net cash as at 31 March 2016 in excess of £12.5 million.

During March 2016, four student accommodation developments in Glasgow, Birmingham, Bath and Sheffield, representing 1,175 beds in total were forward sold with a gross development value of £82 million. A total of 16 developments, comprising 6,395 beds, have now been forward sold, including all of the developments planned to be completed by September 2016 and 7 of the 9 planned to be completed by September 2017, and the Group is on site to deliver these developments. Watkin Jones has a further three developments totaling over 900 beds, under offer and in legal negotiations and a number of other planning applications have been submitted in respect of the ongoing pipeline.

During March 2016, the Group's asset management subsidiary, Fresh Student Living, secured a further 536 bed scheme in Glasgow, which brings the total number of beds expected to be under management for the start of the 2016 academic year to 12,663.

The Group's progress in delivering the current development pipeline is encouraging and the Board remains confident in the outlook for the full year.

Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Watkin Jones plc, said: "Our performance over the past six months reinforces the attractiveness of our end-to-end business model to institutional investors.  The transition to a public company has gone very smoothly and I am delighted by the positive response to our successful admission to AIM on 23 March."

The Company will be announcing its Interim Results on Thursday, 9 June 2016.  An analyst briefing will be held at 09.30hrs at the offices of Buchanan, 107 Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN.

- Ends -

For further information:

Watkin Jones plc
Mark Watkin Jones, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
Philip Byrom, Chief Financial Officer	www.watkinjonesplc.com
Zeus Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
Corporate Finance
Dan Bate / Nick Cowles / Jamie Peel		Tel: [phone]
Corporate Broking		Tel: [phone]
Dominic King / Benjamin Robertson		www.zeuscapital.co.uk
Peel Hunt LLP (Joint Broker)		Tel: [phone]
Mike Bell / Matthew Brooke-Hitching		www.peelhunt.com

Media enquiries:

Buchanan
Henry Harrison-Topham / Richard Oldworth / Helen Chan	Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]	www.buchanan.uk.com

Notes to Editors

Watkin Jones is a leading UK developer and constructor of multi occupancy property assets, with a focus on the student accommodation sector. The Group has strong relationships with institutional investors, and a good reputation for successful, on-time-delivery of high quality developments. Since 1999, Watkin Jones has delivered over 28,000 student beds across 88 sites, making it a key player and leader in the UK purpose built student accommodation market. In addition, Watkin Jones has been responsible for over 50 residential developments, ranging from starter homes to executive housing and apartments.

The Group's competitive advantage lies in its business model, which enables it to offer an end to end solution for investors, delivered entirely in-house with minimal reliance on third parties, across the entire life cycle of an asset. Key components of the business model are:

·      Site identification - extensive experience of site identification and acquisition facilitates high quality sites being acquired;

·      Planning consents - in depth knowledge and experience of the planning consent process specific to this type of asset facilitates high success rates on planning applications;

·      In-house construction and delivery - in-house construction expertise, management and delivery limits reliance on third parties and, together with favourable contractual relationships with key suppliers, enhances control of cost;

·      Funding structure - forward sale model reduces risk for Watkin Jones and provides security and visibility of the asset pipeline for investors. The Group has strong relationships with blue chip investors, including a number that are repeat investors in Watkin Jones developments; and

·     Asset management - dedicated property management division provides a continued service solution to investors post development completion and completes the 'end to end' business model.

 

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