Progressive presents the management team of Watkin Jones – 03/02/2022

The UK’s leading developer and manager in the residential rental market, focused on student accommodation and the more emerging build-to-rent (BTR) market. Its development model is largely pre-funded by institutional investors, with many of whom it has strong relationships. It also manages student and BTR properties for institutions and has a profitable housebuilding division.

Presenters: Richard Simpson, CEO & Sarah Sergeant, CFO

Watch the full presentation below or navigate to the segments and questions that interest you the most.

Overview

Financial Review

Sector Review

Development Pipeline

Fresh and ESG

Cladding

Summary

1. Could you expand a little bit on the 'white labelling' opportunity on the BTR. Is this likely to have Marks & Spencer or Lloyds Bank trying to get into this? What do you think is the scope of the opportunity and how many other competitors could deliver? Is 'white labelling' quickly going to become a crowded area and what will differentiate competitors within that?

2. Are you seeing any regional divergences in rents?

3. Are you impacted by component or "furniture" shortages ? We hear of other developers unable to sell properties because items as insignificant as a fridge or a small fitting are unavailable or delayed due to global supply chain problems - are these impacting your ability to complete deals and book revenue ?

4. On PBSA, it looked like the investment figures (ex the Blackstone and Unite deals) were roughly flat or even declining. Were those deals really typical or were they outliers in terms of structure and the assets ?

5. You talked about Gross Margin in one of the divisions being driven by occupancy above 85%...how much difference is this likely to make, and is it a sliding scale or a specific yes/no target or hurdle ?

6. How are you impacted by the latest views on "levelling up" of the country, and the regional disparities or investments that this might drive ?

7. In terms of cladding, has the government made it clear WHEN they will clarify their tax plans to raise the extra mid-rise money? And are you holding back on any investments until this is done?

8. Does the Affordable business pipeline evolve in the same way in terms of percentages and timing of "sites secured" and "forward sold" ?

9. Please could you talk about planning a bit more - was it dramatically slowed down during the Covid lockdowns, and is there potentially a flurry of activity as planning teams return to the office and work through any backlog that has built up?

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