Housing recovery boosts St Modwen
West Midlands regeneration developer St Modwen has seen a strong start to the year, with a steady stream of sales at its housing sites thanks to rising consumer confidence and the Government's Help to Buy scheme.
Its figures have been buoyed by a string of joint ventures between St Modwen's homes business and housebuilder Persimmon,.
These include Akron Gate on the Goodyear site in Wolverhampton and at Longbridge. St Modwen said today that sales so far this financial year - since the end of November - have topped 180 homes compared to 35 at the same time a year ago.
"This reflects a sustained increase in consumer confidence and the continued success of the Government's Help to Buy scheme for which we welcome the recent announcement to extend the initiative until 2020," said St Modwen.
The market for its residential land also remains buoyant, with strong demand from housebuilders looking to increase their sales outlets.
It is experiencing sustained growth in London, the South West and in the Midlands and expect this to continue throughout the year.
St Modwen is currently at the centre of controversial plans for a major housing estate and a big Sainsbury's store in Newport, Shropshire.
Meanwhile, the group has strengthened its finances with the succesful launch of £100 million of unsecured guaranteed convertible bonds, to pay off existing debt and drive business growth.
Chief executive Bill Oliver said: "Following a strong set of full year results, we are already enjoying a good start to the year. This has been further supported by our successful convertible bond offering, which demonstrates a growing confidence amongst our existing and new investors.
"As the year progresses, we expect the ongoing improvement in the residential and commercial markets to continue."
