Circle posts £21m surplus

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Local Government

One of the UK’s largest affordable housing providers has reported an operating surplus after tax of £21.4m for 2011/12 from a turnover of £333m.

Circle, which is made up of nine registered providers and manages 65,000 homes, says it has steadily increased its operating margins over the past four years and has continued to deliver good surplus targets having removed any dependency on sales of existing assets.

It cites it £1.2bn repairs deal – the sector’s largest – as one of its key highlights which, it says, will produce savings of more than £100m over the next 10 years.

The landlord - which saw Moody’s upgrade its baseline credit assessment - also cited its £250m bond issue as a financial highlight.

However, the year also saw its executive director of finance Calum Mercer leave the organisation after having spent six years at the housing provider.

Mark Rogers (pictured), group chief executive at Circle, said: “Our core purpose is to enhance life chances, by investing in people and their communities, and providing services to help our customers to live independently for longer.  To do this we need to be financial stable, and have taken care to choose what will work for our organisation and how far to stretch our finances.

“Our results this year are testament to the fact that we can deliver a better service to our customers while investing to ensure we are fit for the future. This has never been more important in these challenging times. We will continue to focus on supporting our customers through these stormy seas to manage the impact of welfare reform, protecting the future both of our customers and Circle.”

The group has secured £30m from the Homes and Communities Agency to deliver 1,425 homes by 2015. In the last year it has built 1,142 homes with 303 for shared ownership.