GREAT PLACES HOUSING GROUP LIMITED
£345,000,000 4.75 per cent Secured Bonds due 2042 (ISIN Number XS0842152281)
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2025
Great Places Housing Group Limited ("Great Places") has agreed and adopted the financial statements for the year ending 31st March 2025. The accounts were approved by the Great Places Board members at their meeting on 31st July 2025 and subsequently signed by our external auditors.
Turnover for 2024/25 was £194m, up by 12.8% from £172m in 2023/24. The increase was driven by higher rental income and growth in the number of properties.
Operating surplus rose to £50.2m increasing from £46.7m in 2023/24. The operating margin decreased slightly from 25% to 24% (as defined by the RSH VFM metric). This margin outperforms the prior year sector median and contains some one-off items.
Turnover from social housing lettings was £149.9m (2023/24: £134.1m).Turnover from shared ownership first tranche sales and open market sales was £25.1m (2023/24: £23.2m).
Total fixed assets stood at £1.84bn (2023/24: £1.62bn).
Total debt (net of arrangement fees) was £764.7m (2023/24: £680.5m), with 83.8% of our debt being fixed rate, protecting us from the high interest rates experienced during the year. In addition, we held group cash balances of £32.9m (including £5m cash held on behalf of others).
The Regulator of Social Housing graded Great Places as G1/V2/C2 in September 2024, confirming strong governance arrangements and effective risk management, enabling us to achieve our strategic and charitable goals. The C2 rating is part of the initial rollout of revised consumer standards. It highlights solid service delivery alongside a few areas for improvement, all of which are being addressed through the planned priorities within our Corporate Plan.
Our credit ratings remain A3 (stable) with Moody's and A+ (stable) with Fitch.
Operational performance has remained strong despite the challenging environment, with arrears in particular remaining low.
As part of our corporate priorities, specifically around data governance, we have reviewed older data around assets and grants, leading to prior period amendments in this year's financial statements.
Despite the pressures on our customers, arrears performance remains strong. We continue to support customers through our hardship and community resilience funds, which expanded during the year to enable us to reach more customers than before.
Our commitment to improving energy efficiency in our homes continues. At the end of March, 85.4% of our homes were rated EPC level C or above. During 2024/25, 642 homes were improved to EPC level C or higher.
Customer safety remains a top priority. We have continued to assess our buildings and carry out necessary works in response to the changes to building safety legislation. This year, we invested £5.5 million in safety improvements (£3.5m 2023/24), including installing smoke and fire detection systems, and progressing our remediation plans. We are also fulfilling our customer engagement commitments by developing a comprehensive resident engagement strategy, supported by tailored plans for our high-priority high-rise buildings.
Repairs remain the most frequently used service by our customers, with nearly 60,000 being completed in 2024/25. There has been a 5% increase in the number of repairs completed by our in-house team. This shift towards more in-house delivery has supported our efforts to boost customer satisfaction, as reflected in both our touchpoint surveys and the year-end Tenant Satisfaction Measures.
During the year we completed 726 much-needed new affordable homes and now own or manage over 27,000 homes across the North West and South Yorkshire. At the end of March nearly 2,400 affordable homes were under construction, located within our existing geographies and strategically identified growth locations.
As a profit-for-purpose organisation, we ensure that all our surpluses are invested in line with our values and to meet our vision of "Great Homes, Great People, Great Communities".
The Financial Statements for Great Places are available on our website at:
https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/about-us/corporate-and-investor-information/financial-accounts